Objectives: Ménière's disease (MD) is a well-known inner ear disease; however, the etiopathogenesis is unknown. Several factors may be involved. Meanwhile, vitamin D is reported to have an important role in inner ear physiology. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relation between vitamin D deficiency and MD.
Study design: This matched case-control study compared serum vitamin D levels between patients with definite MD and those without it.
Setting: The study was done between August 2018 and December 2019 at Ghaem University Hospital in Mashhad, Iran.
Methods: Twenty-eight patients with definite MD were matched with a group of 84 healthy individuals, regarding age, sex, body mass index, and occupation (indoor vs outdoor). The serum level of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D3) was measured in both groups.
Results: The mean ± SD vitamin D level was 18.9 ± 9.7 ng/mL in the case group and 25.2 ± 13.7 ng/mL in the control group (P = .027). There was a significant difference between the case and control groups according to the results of the conditional logistic regression model (P = .03; adjusted odds ratio, 0.96). In the MD group, 17 (60.7%) patients were vitamin D deficient, 6 (21.4%) insufficient, and only 5 (17.9%) sufficient.
Conclusions: The results of this study show that serum vitamin D level in MD is significantly lower than that of the control group. However, the role of vitamin D supplementation in the management of MD needs further study.
Level of evidence: 4.
Keywords: Ménière’s disease; deficiency; vitamin D.