Evidence for a left ear bias in incidence of Meniere’s disease

Abstract

Objective

To explore a side of lesion differences in Meniere’s disease (MD).

Design

A retrospective review (2019–2021) was conducted of patients with definite MD, as defined by 2015 Bárány Society diagnostic criteria. Testing information included pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, and extra-tympanic electrocochleography (ECochG). Normative ECochG data from healthy subjects determined the 95% cut-off value for clinical abnormality.

Study sample

107 patients with definite MD were included in the study and 40 healthy controls.

Results

The review identified 75 patients with unilateral MD and 32 patients with bilateral MD according to their clinical histories. 79% of unilateral cases were found to have MD on the L ear. 94% of bilateral MD cases had L ears more affected than R ears. Objective ECochG testing indicated a greater incidence of elevated SP/AP area curve and amplitude ratios in L ears. On binomial testing, all results indicate a highly significant bias of MD to the L side.

Conclusions

Unilateral MD appears more common on the L side than the R, suggesting that the disease process underlying MD is not symmetrical. MD also appears more common in females than males. It appears that there is a physiological asymmetry in the progression/cause of MD.

Keywords:

• Meniere’s disease
• extra-tympanic electrocochleography
• Ear asymmetry
• Adults

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge Dr. Tarek Khrais clinic and Dr. Mohammad Al-Masri from the Middle East Hearing and Balance Centre in Jordan-Amman for allowing review of their patient data for the current study. The authors also thank the hearing clinic at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Jordan for sharing their patient data for the current research. The authors also thank the audiologist Asmaa Abdelraheem from Dr. Tarek Khrais clinic for helping in collecting data for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Deanship of Scientific Research, the University of Jordan.