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Updated: Jun 24, 2025

Behavioral Assessment of the Aging Mouse Vestibular System
Published on: July 11, 2014
Association of Alzheimer's Disease With Peripheral Vestibular Disorder: A Case-Control Study
Shih-Han Hung1,2,3, Sudha Xirasagar4, Yen-Fu Cheng5,6,7,8
1Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Objectives:
Vestibular disorders can impact cognitive domains, including spatial orientation and memory, which are also affected in Alzheimer's disease. This study aimed to examine the association between Alzheimer's disease and a prior diagnosis of peripheral vestibular disorders in the elderly Taiwanese population.
Methods:
The case-control study sample was retrieved from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2010. We included 3138 cases with Alzheimer's disease and 9414 propensity-matched controls. We conducted multivariable logistic regression modeling to investigate the association between Alzheimer's disease and a prior diagnosis of peripheral vestibular disorders after accounting for sociodemographic characteristics and medical comorbidities including diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hearing loss.
Results:
The results revealed a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of prior peripheral vestibular disorders between patients with Alzheimer's disease and controls; 20.6% among patients with Alzheimer's disease and 11.4% among controls (p < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis found that patients with Alzheimer's disease were twice as likely as controls to have had a prior diagnosis of peripheral vestibular disorders, adjusted odds ratio 2.040 (95% confidence interval: 1.829-2.274).
Conclusions:
The findings suggest the possibility of shared or related pathophysiological pathways in Alzheimer's disease and vestibular dysfunction disorders.
Level Of Evidence:
3 Laryngoscope, 134:4730-4735, 2024.

