Osteoporosis as a risk factor for the recurrence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Objectives/hypothesis: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) frequently occurs in females over 50 years old, suggesting that a postmenopausal decrease in estrogen secretion might be involved in its onset. An estrogen deficiency is generally known to cause osteoporosis through a reduction in bone mass. This study was designed to investigate a clinical association between idiopathic BPPV and osteoporosis.

Study Design: Case-control study.

Methods: We measured the bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar vertebrae in 61 patients with idiopathic BPPV who were postmenopausal women over 50 years old using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. After being treated with the canalith repositioning maneuver, the patients were followed up for at least 1 year.

Results: Our results showed that the incidence of osteoporosis in patients with BPPV was 26.2%, which was similar to those observed in epidemiological surveys conducted in Japan. However, we found that in BPPV patients with osteoporosis, the incidence of recurrence was 56.3%, which was significantly higher than that observed in patients with normal bone mineral density (16.1%). Furthermore, the frequency of BPPV recurrence increased as BMD decreased.

Conclusions: These results suggest that osteoporosis is a risk factor for BPPV recurrence. The prognosis of BPPV might be clinically predicted by BMD reduction.