Swedish Tinnitus Outreach Project

There are increasing initiatives for integrating gender dimensions in research. In this regard, the GENDER-NET ERA-NET program, has received funding from the EU FP7 framework to engage EU member states into implementing gender equality plans in their institutions, and relevant to us: ensure that all phases of basic and applied research integrates sex and gender dimensions.

The Swedish Tinnitus Outreach Project (STOP) was created in the aim of better characterising tinnitus and identify potential subtypes, which would be better responding to specific therapeutic interventions. The Project Leader, Dr. Christopher R. Cederroth from the Karolinska Institutet, then joined the European School of Interdisciplinary Tinnitus (ESIT) for integrating a interdisciplinary approach in tinnitus research and educate the future tinnitus researchers with a set of skills necessary for achieving innovative treatment options.

Within the first years of ESIT, we have found using data from STOP that women with constant tinnitus are accompanied with a greater burden (stress, anxiety, sensitivity to noise, physical and psychological life quality) than men (Schlee et al., 2017). This opened the possibility of different pathophysiological mechanisms operating in men and women. This hypothesis was recently granted financial support from the GENDER-NET PLUS ERA-NET Co-Fund to investigate further the sex and gender differences in tinnitus.

Thirteen projects were selected for financing, of which 5 include Karolinska Institutet as a partner.

Dr. Cederroth will coordinate the project TIGER (Tinnitus Genetic and Environmental Risks), in collaboration with Jose Antonio Lopez-Escamez (Spain), Silvano Gallus (Italy) and Jan Bulla (Norway).