title: Factors affecting postural instability in Meniere's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the influence of factors that can affect the postural instability of Ménière's disease (MD) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-control study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatient clinic in a university hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-four definite MD patients and 66 controls were included. Two-legged stance tasks were performed in 4 conditions: eyes open with and without foam rubber and eyes closed with and without foam rubber. We examined 6 variables: the velocity of movement of the center of pressure (COP), the envelopment area traced by the movement of the COP, Romberg's ratio of velocity and area, and the foam ratios of velocity and area. For patients, stepwise multiple regression analyses were performed to explore the relationship between the 6 variables and the following independent variables: gender, age, the presence of abnormal caloric and/or cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) responses, the time elapsed since the last vertigo attack, and the disease duration.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The presence of MD had a significantly positive relationship with all 6 of the variables (P < .05). The presence of abnormal caloric and/or cVEMP responses had a significantly positive relationship with Romberg's ratio of velocity (P < .05) and area (P < .01). The shorter time interval from last vertigo attack to measurement had a significantly positive relationship with the foam ratio of area (P < .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MD patients show poor postural performance, which is affected by the existence of their peripheral vestibular function and the shorter time interval from last vertigo attack to measurement.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors: Chisato
authors: C
authors: Fujimoto
authors: Naoya
authors: N
authors: Egami
authors: Makoto
authors: M
authors: Kinoshita
authors: Keiko
authors: K
authors: Sugasawa
authors: Tatsuya
authors: T
authors: Yamasoba
authors: Shinichi
authors: S
authors: Iwasaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008575:Meniere Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014717:Vertigo / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: posture; vertigo; vestibular diseases; vestibule