Vascular risk factors in patients with peripheral vestibular disorders.

OBJECTIVES

The present observational retrospective study investigates whether there are differences in vascular risk factors between patients with spontaneous benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and those with Ménière's disease (MD).

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Out of a series of 1617 consecutive admitted patients, 36 presented isolated recurrent vertiginous events. Twenty patients with BPPV and 16 with MD were compared. In addition to extensive audiovestibular investigations, all patients had a complete cardio-vascular work-up. A computed tomography (CT) and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain were performed in all patients. The vascular risk factors and the CT/MRI findings were compared between the patients with BPPV and MD.

RESULTS

Small old cerebral infarcts were observed in 25% of the BPPV and 31.2% of the MD patients, although none of them had a prior history of stroke. All other vascular risk factors tended to be more frequent in the former group although only a statistically significant difference was found for coronary artery disease (P = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

In this pilot study BPPV does not appear to be such a benign condition but can indicate progression of general atherosclerotic disease.