Prevalence of New‐Onset Tinnitus after COVID‐19 Vaccination with Comparison to Other Vaccinations

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how often patients are diagnosed with new‐onset tinnitus within 21 days after COVID‐19 vaccination in comparison to after three other common vaccinations: influenza, Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis), and polysaccharide pneumococcus. METHODS: The TriNetX Analytics Network, a federated health research network that aggregates the de‐identified electronic health record (EHR) data of over 78 million patients, was queried for patients receiving each vaccination. Instances of new‐onset tinnitus within 21 days of vaccination were recorded and reported. RESULTS: Out of 2,575,235 patients receiving a first dose of the mRNA COVID‐19 vaccine without any prior tinnitus diagnosis, 0.038% (95% CI: 0.036%–0.041%) of patients had a new diagnosis of tinnitus within 21 days. There was a higher risk of a new tinnitus diagnosis after the influenza vaccine (RR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.72–2.21), Tdap vaccine (RR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.93–2.89), and pneumococcal vaccine (RR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.48–2.64) than after the first dose of the COVID‐19 vaccine. There was a lower risk of a new tinnitus diagnosis after the second dose of COVID‐19 than after the first dose (RR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.71–0.91). CONCLUSION: The rate of newly diagnosed tinnitus acutely after the first dose of the COVID‐19 vaccine is very low. There was a higher risk of newly diagnosed tinnitus after influenza, Tdap, and pneumococcal vaccinations than after the COVID‐19 vaccine. The present findings can help to address COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy during the ongoing pandemic. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 3 Laryngoscope, 2022