Atmospheric Pressure and Onset of Episodes of Menière's Disease - A Repeated Measures Study.
BACKGROUND
External changes of air pressure are transmitted to the middle and inner ear and may be used therapeutically in Menière's disease, one of the most common vertigo disorders. We analyzed the possible relationship of atmospheric pressure and other meteorological parameters with the onset of MD vertigo episodes in order to determine whether atmospheric pressure changes play a role in the occurrence of MD episodes.


METHODS
Patients of a tertiary outpatient dizziness clinic diagnosed with MD were asked to keep a daily vertigo diary to document MD episodes (2004-2009). Local air pressure, absolute temperature and dew point temperature were acquired on an hourly basis. Change in meteorological parameters was conceptualized as the maximum difference in a 24 hour time frame preceding each day. Effects were estimated using additive mixed models with a random participant effect. We included lagged air parameters, age, sex, weekday and season in the model.


RESULTS
A total of 56 persons (59% female) with mean age 54 years were included. Mean follow-up time was 267 days. Persons experienced on average 10.3 episodes during the observation period (median 8). Age and change in air pressure were significantly associated with vertigo onset risk (Odds Ratio = 0.979 and 1.010). We could not show an effect of sex, weekday, season, air temperature, and dew point temperature.


CONCLUSIONS
Change in air pressure was significantly associated with onset of MD episodes, suggesting a potential triggering mechanism in the inner ear. MD patients may possibly use air pressure changes as an early warning system for vertigo attacks in the future.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany.|German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany.
Robert
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4195-149X
R
Gürkov
German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany.|Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Marchioninistr. 17, 81377 Munich, Germany.
Ralf
R
Strobl
Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany.
Nina
N
Heinlin
Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany.
Eike
E
Krause
Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany.
Bernhard
B
Olzowy
German Meteorological Service, Frankfurter Str. 135, 63067 Offenbach, Germany.
Christina
C
Koppe
German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany.|Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Marchioninistr. 17, 81377 Munich, Germany.
Eva
E
Grill
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001274:Atmospheric Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008575:Meniere Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D055815:Young Adult