Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Prevalence in Meniere’s Disease: Is Meniere’s Disease a Predisposing Factor?

Background: Meniere’s disease (MD) is a chronic illness defined as an idiopathic syndrome of endolymphatic hydrops. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a balance disorder and can be the sequel of diverse inner ear impairments. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of BPPV in MD patients. Materials and Methods: All patients with definite or probable MD participated in this cross-sectional descriptive and analytic study between March 2013 and February 2014. We used the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) criteria plus electrocochleography (ECochG) test results to define the presence of MD and positional tests to determine the presence of BPPV. The frequency was reported. Independent sample t-test was also used in SPSS19. Results: A total of 39 patients (43 ears) with definite or probable MD (26 female, 13 male; mean age: 46.4 ± 9.2 years) were enrolled in this study. Six out of 39 cases (15.4%) had BPPV in the posterior semicircular canal. The mean duration of MD was 28.5 months in BPPV group and 13.2 months in the non-BPPV group. Regardless of the age of the patients, there was a significant difference (p = 0.02) between the duration of MD in the two groups. Conclusions: It seems that MD and BPPV are related and a longer duration of MD may result in a greater risk of developing BPPV.