Peripheral Vestibular Disorders: Nationwide Evidence From Taiwan

Abstract

Objectives/hypothesis: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of peripheral vestibular disorders in an Asian population of predominantly Han Chinese ethnicity.

Study design: Cross-sectional study.

Methods: Patients with a peripheral vertigo disorder were identified from the Taiwan Health Insurance Research Database, a database of all medical claims of a randomly selected, population-representative sample of 2 million enrollees of Taiwan's National Health Insurance system covering over 99% of Taiwan's citizens. In 2016, 59,986 patients received a diagnosis of peripheral vestibular disorders in Taiwan. We calculated the population-wide prevalence rates of peripheral vestibular disorders in 2016 by sex and age group (20 to 24, 25 to 29, 30 to 34, 35 to 39, 40 to 44, 45 to 49, 50 to 54, 55 to 59, 60 to 64, 65 to 69, and ≥ 70 years) stratified into five urbanization levels.

Results: The prevalence rate of peripheral vestibular disorders was 2,833.4 per 100,000 population during the year. Prevalence of Meniere's disease was 70.4 per 100,000, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, 446.4, vestibular neuritis 307.2, and other or unspecified peripheral vestibular dizziness, 2,009.5 per 100,000. Prevalence rates steadily increased with age for every type of peripheral vestibular disorder, and were higher among females compared to males. The female-to-male gender ratios were 1.84, 1.89, and 1.93 for Meniere's disease, vestibular neuritis, and other peripheral vestibular dizziness, respectively. Counties with the lowest urbanization level had the highest prevalence rates of all types of peripheral vestibular disorders except vestibular neuritis.

Conclusions: Results showed that peripheral vestibular disorders are common in Taiwan, increase with age, are predominantly female, and show higher prevalence in rural areas.

Level of evidence: 2b Laryngoscope, 131:639-643, 2021.

Keywords: Vertigo; dizziness; epidemiology; urbanization.