Prevalence of Meniere disease in Finland

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of Meniere disease in the population o f 5 million in Finland according to the criteria of the Committee on Hearin g and Equilibrium of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck S urgery (AAO-HNS) recommendation. Study Design: Retrospective investigation based on patient records of 306 patients treated for Meniere disease and re cognized as such according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-9 or ICD-10) in seven Finnish hospitals serving a population of 1.5 million people. Methods: Patients wer e selected from the computerized patient registers of outpatients and inpat ients having received an appropriate diagnosis during the period from 1992 to 1996 and re-evaluated. Definite cases according to AAO-HNS guidelines we re identified to calculate the prevalence of Meniere disease in Finland at the end of 1996, Results: A total of 131 definite cases of Meniere disease were identified. The prevalence of at least 43 per 100,000 and an average a nnual incidence of 4.3 per 100,000 were obtained. The prevalence turned out to be higher (P < .001) in Northern areas (49/100,000) than in the south ( 38/100,000), The prevalence did not differ in the areas of university hospi tals (44/100,000) from those of central hospitals (42/100,000), Conclusions : The prevalence and incidence in Finland is lower than could be expected f rom previous international surveys, most of which provide inadequate data f or forming a real picture of the epidemiology of Meniere disease. Uniform d iagnostic criteria are indispensable for further research.