Association of Young-Onset Dementia with Pre-Existing Peripheral Vestibular Disorders

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Hung, Shih-Han^{a; b; c} | Chang, Alison H.^d | Cheng, Yen-Fu^{e; f; g; h; 1} | Lin, Herng-Ching^{i; j; 1} | Chen, Chin-Shyan^{h; k; *; 1}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan | [b] Department of Otolaryngology, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan | [c] International Ph.D. Program in Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan | [d] Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA | [e] Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan | [f] Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan | [g] Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu City, Taiwan | [h] Research Center of Data Science on Healthcare Industry, College of Management, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan | [i] School of Health Care Administration, College of Management, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan | [j] Research Center of Sleep Medicine, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan | [k] Department of Economics, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Chin-Shyan Chen, Department of Economics, National Taipei University, No. 151, University Rd., Sanxia Dist., New Taipei City 237303, Taiwan. E-mail: stan@mail.ntpu.edu.tw.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, peripheral vestibular disorders, young-onset dementia

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-240309

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 603-610, 2024