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Background: This study aimed to investigate the association of peripheral vestibular disorders with type 1 and type 2 diabetes using a population-based dataset. Methods: The data for this study were obtained from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2010. The sample consisted of 150,916 patients who were newly diagnosed with peripheral vestibular disorders as cases and 452,748 propensity-score-matching controls without peripheral vestibular disorders. We utilized multivariate logistic regression models to quantitatively evaluate the association between peripheral vestibular disorders and diabetes while considering factors such as sex, age, geographic location, monthly income, urbanization level of the patient's residence, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Results: The chi-squared test indicates that diabetes was more common in the peripheral vestibular disorder group compared to controls (20.6% vs. 15.1%, p < 0.001). Of all sampled patients, the adjusted odds ratio for diabetes was 1.597 (95% CI = 1.570~1.623) for those with peripheral vestibular disorders when compared to controls, while patients with Ménière's disease, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, unilateral vestibulopathy, and other peripheral vestibular disorders had respective adjusted odds ratios of diabetes at 1.566 (95% CI = 1.498~1.638), 1.677 (95% CI = 1.603~1.755), 1.592 (95% CI = 1.504~1.685), and 1.588 (95% CI = l.555~1.621) in comparison to controls. Conclusions: Our research has revealed an association between diabetes and an increased susceptibility to peripheral vestibular disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to investigate prevalences of head and neck cancers in patients with and those without Sjögren's syndrome using a population‐based dataset. Methods: We retrieved sampled patients from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. This study included 38 930 patients with Sjögren's syndrome and 155 720 propensity‐score matched comparison patients without Sjögren's syndrome. Results: Chi‐squared tests revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in the prevalences of head and neck cancers between patients with Sjögren's syndrome and comparison patients (1.77% vs. 1.22%, p < 0.001). The odds ratio for head and neck cancers for patients with Sjögren's syndrome relative to the comparison group was 1.452 (95% CI = 1.325–1.592). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that patients with Sjögren's syndrome face increased odds of head and neck cancers, encompassing several sites including the oral cavity, oropharynx, nasopharynx, and thyroid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Whether tinnitus is associated with pre-existing hypertension remains uncertain. This study explored the association between tinnitus and pre-existing hypertension. Methods: We obtained data on a retrospective cohort of 542 884 cases ≥18 years old with a first-time tinnitus diagnosis from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. We used propensity-score matching to select 542 884 matched controls and performed multiple logistic regression analyses to estimate the adjusted odds of prior hypertension among patients with tinnitus versus controls. Results: Bivariate analysis showed no significant difference in the prevalence of prior hypertension between the tinnitus and no-tinnitus groups (35.58% vs 35.5%, P =.617). Univariable logistic regression analysis confirmed the bivariate analysis finding, unadjusted odds of prior hypertension among the tinnitus group relative to controls, 1.002, 95% CI: 0.994-1.010, P =.617). After adjusting for age, sex, monthly income, geographic location and urbanization level, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hearing loss, obesity, anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, alcohol abuse, nicotine dependence, anxiety disorder, depressive disorder and idiopathic intracranial hypertension, the odds of prior hypertension were similar among the tinnitus and no-tinnitus groups (OR = 1.006, 95% CI: 0.997-1.016, P =.178). Conclusions: Our population-based study found no evidence for an association between tinnitus and pre-existing hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the association of prior hearing loss with land transport accidents using a nationwide population-based dataset. A case-control study. Data for this study were obtained from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Dataset. We retrieved data on 2066 patients who had received a diagnosis of a land transport accident as cases. We used a propensity score-matched method to select 6198 controls. A Chi-squared test revealed that there was a significant difference in the prevalence of prior hearing loss between cases and controls (6.8% vs. 5.6%, p = 0.046). The odds ratio (OR) of prior hearing loss for cases was 1.128 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.003 ∼ 1.503) compared to controls. After adjusting for demographic variables and comorbidities, the OR of hearing loss for cases was 1.238 (95% CI: 1.008 ∼ 1.522) that of controls. Our finding suggests that pre-existing hearing loss may be associated with land transport accidents among adults aged 50 years and older. Further study is needed to elucidate the mechanism(s) through which hearing loss may contribute to land transport accidents and examine how the use of hearing rehabilitation devices, for example, hearing aids impacts the observed associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The relationship between young-onset dementia and peripheral vestibular disorders remained largely unknown although this association was observed in the older population., Objective: This case-control study aims to investigate the association of young-onset dementia with a pre-existing diagnosis of peripheral vestibular disorders using a population-based data from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2010., Methods: This study included 989 patients with young-onset dementia and 2967 propensity-score-matching controls. Differences in baseline characteristic between patients with young-onset dementia and controls were investigated using chi-square tests or t-tests. Multiple logistic regression models were employed to assess the association of young-onset dementia (outcome) with pre-existing peripheral vestibular disorders (predictor)., Results: Compared to patients without young-onset dementia, those affected by this condition exhibited a statistically significantly higher rate of peripheral vestibular disorders (18.3% versus 8.2%, p < 0.001). Furthermore, our analysis found notable between-group disparities in the rates of Meniere's Disease (3.5% versus 2.0%, p= 0.015), benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (2.4% versus 1.1%, p= 0.006), and vestibular neuritis (2.4% versus 1.1%, p= 0.003). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of prior peripheral vestibular disorders increased the odds of young-onset dementia [2.603 (95% CI = 2.105∼3.220)] after adjusting for age, sex, monthly income, geographic location, urbanization level, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, coronary heart disease, hearing loss, and hypertension., Conclusions: The study findings demonstrate a notable association between young-onset dementia and pre-existing peripheral vestibular disorders, suggesting that vestibular malfunction could play a role in the development of young-onset dementia.

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, 2024., (© 2024 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)

Little is known about a possible association of autoimmune inner ear disease among patients diagnosed with polymyositis (PM)/dermatomyositis (DM). This study aimed to explore differences in the prevalence of inner ear symptoms among patients with and without PM/DM using a nationwide population-based dataset. Data for this study were retrieved from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The study sample included 1622 patients diagnosed with PM/DM and 8109 propensity-score matched comparison patients without PM/DM. We performed multivariate logistic regressions to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for tinnitus, hearing loss, sudden deafness, and vertigo among patients with PM/DM versus comparison patients. Chi-square tests showed statistically significant differences between patients with PM/DM and comparison patients in the prevalence of tinnitus (16.1% vs. 12.7%, p < 0.001), non-conductive hearing loss (9.2% vs. 6.8%, p < 0.001), and vertigo (14.4% vs. 11.1%, p < 0.001). The adjusted ORs for tinnitus, non-conductive hearing loss, and vertigo, respectively, were 1.332 (95% CI = 1.147-1.547), 1.399 (95% CI = 1.154-1.696), and 1.374 (95% CI = 1.173-1.611) for patients with PM/DM when compared to comparison patients. Our study finds that patients with PM/DM have higher prevalence rates of tinnitus, non-conductive hearing loss, and vertigo than comparison patients., (© 2024. The Author(s).)