Metabolic investigations in Menière's disease

This paper presents the results of various metabolic investigations in patients with Menière's disease. It is a follow-up article on the preliminary findings of the study which was published in this Journal recently (Moffat et al., 1979). Fifty patients (29 male, and 21 female) with Menière's disease conforming to the criteria set out by the Committee of Hearing and Equilibration of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology (1972) were involved. The incidence of abnormal metabolic states was no higher than that of a comparable group in the general population. One of the patients had a diabetic glucose tolerance test curve, four had lag curves. One patient had a high TSH level and was clinically myxoedematous. Three patients (two male, and one female) had primary hyperlipidaemia and one female patient had hyperlipidaemia secondary to myxoedema. There was no significant difference in response to intradermal pin prick skin tests compared with a controlled group.