Psychological condition in patients with intractable Meniere's disease

Physicians should consider additional treatment strategies for Meniere's disease patients with a long history of disease and hearing loss in the secondary affected ear and also provide psychological support regarding future progressive bilateral hearing loss.

To treat intractable Meniere's disease patients effectively, we need to understand the psychological condition of each patient. We examined the state of neurosis and depression in patients and correlated this with demographic and background information.

Between 1998 and 2009, we enrolled 207 patients with intractable Meniere's disease in this prospective study. We used the Cornell Medical Index and the Self-rating Depression Scale to evaluate their psychological condition. We also obtained demographic and background information relating to sex, age, duration of disease, vertigo frequency, hearing level in bilateral sides, and plasma vasopressin level.

Neurosis and depression was diagnosed in 40.1% and 60.4%, respectively, of patients with intractable Meniere's disease. Our results showed that surgical treatment significantly improved vertigo and hearing ability in patients with no psychological symptoms compared with those exhibiting psychological symptoms. Patients with a longer duration and worse hearing level in the secondary affected ear had a significantly higher incidence of mental illness than those with a shorter duration and better level of hearing.