# Osteoporosis correlates with abnormal ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

## TL;DR

This study finds a link between osteoporosis and abnormal eye muscle responses in patients with a type of dizziness called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

## Contribution

The study provides new evidence that osteoporosis is independently associated with utricular dysfunction in BPPV patients.

## Key findings

- Osteoporosis was found in 27.8% of BPPV patients and correlated with unilateral oVEMP absence.
- Osteoporotic patients had lower BMI, were older, and more likely female compared to non-osteoporotic patients.
- Osteoporosis remained independently associated with oVEMP absence after adjusting for confounding variables.

## Abstract

Osteoporosis may increase the risk of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). However, direct evidence remains elusive.

To analyze the correlation between bone mineral density (BMD) and vestibular function in elderly patients with BPPV.

Two hundred ninety-one idiopathic, unilateral BPPV patients aged 50–80 years were consecutively enrolled in our vertigo outpatient clinic. All the participants underwent BMD, cervical, and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (c/oVEMP) evaluations. The associations between BMD and VEMP results were investigated.

Eighty-one patients (27.8%) were diagnosed with osteoporosis, 120 patients (41.2%) had osteopenia, and 90 (30.9%) exhibited normal BMD. Among BPPV patients, abnormal BMD demonstrated a marginal correlation with oVEMP response (p = 0.098), but not with cVEMP response (p = 0.405). Compared to those without osteoporosis, patients with osteoporosis were older (65.9 vs. 62.7 years, p = 0.001), had lower BMI (22.6 vs. 24.3, p < 0.001), showed a higher proportion of females (84.0 vs. 72.4%, p = 0.039), and were more likely to present with at least unilateral oVEMP absence (74.1 vs. 57.1%, p = 0.008). Patients exhibiting at least unilateral oVEMP absence also had reduced T-scores and BMD in the lumbar spine. After adjusting for confounding variables, osteoporosis remained independently associated with at least unilateral oVEMP absence in BPPV patients (OR = 2.038, p = 0.019).

Our study provides further evidence that osteoporosis may contribute to utricular dysfunction associated with the occurrence of BPPV.