History of gout tied to risk for BPPV, Meniere disease

A history of gout is associated with an increased risk for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and Meniere disease, according to a study published online Dec. 26 in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

Hyo Geun Choi, M.D., from the Hallym University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues examined the impact of preexisting gout on the occurrence of BPPV, Meniere disease, and vestibular neuronitis in a retrospective analysis conducted using 2002 to 2019 Korean National Health Insurance Service Health Screening Cohort data. A total of 23,827 patients with gout were matched with 95,268 controls.

The researchers found that compared with the matched control group, the hazard ratios for BPPV and Meniere disease were 1.13 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.06 to 1.21) and 1.26 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.15 to 1.37), respectively, for participants with gout, but the hazard ratio for vestibular neuronitis was not significantly increased (hazard ratio, 1.06; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.93 to 1.21).

"Our study is meaningful in revealing that BPPV and Meniere's disease are novel comorbidities associated with gout," the authors write. "Thus, controlling gout will also contribute to lowering the risk of comorbid diseases such as BPPV and Meniere's disease."