Epidemilological Study of Severe Meniere's Disease in Japan

Abstract

In order to clarify the characteristics of the severe Meniere's disease we analyzed various epidemiological factors, such as sex ratio, duration of illness, etc., in a series of 958 patients with a definite Meniere's disease. The data were obtained from the three Japan-wide surveys of Meniere's disease conducted by the Meniere's Disease Research Committee of Japan (1975-76) and the Vestibular Disorders Research Committee of Japan (1982-84 & 1990). All subjects were classified into two groups : severe and non-severe. The former contained patients with bilateral and unilateral disease. Those with unilateral severe disease had suffered from markedly disabling attacks of paroxysmal vertigo for more than 3 years.1) There were 95 patients with bilateral disease, 238 with unilateral severe disease and 625 with non-severe vertigo. About 40% of the subjects had severe disease.2) Over half of the patients with definite Meniere's disease were females. (bilateral disease 64% ; unilateral severe disease 52% ; non-severe disease 53%)3) The average duration of illness in the severe group (bilateral, 7.1 years ; unilateral, 8.5 years) was longer than that in the non-severe group (3.3 years).4) The incidence of otitis media in the past history was higher in the unilateral severe group than in non-severe group.5) Changes in the atmospheric pressure and in the emotional state were more likely to trigger vertigo attacks in the severe group than in the non-severe group.