Occurrence of Familial Meniere's Syndrome and Migraine in Brasilia

Abstract

Since 1941, many families with several members affected by Meniere's syndrome have been described. “Migraine-like” headache was always mentioned. In 1997, we described a large family with Meniere's syndrome and migraine, both transmitted in an autosomal dominant mode. Recently, a gene that could be responsible for Meniere's symptoms has been identified. However, the incidence of familial Meniere's syndrome is still unknown. A. W. Morrison et al estimated this incidence as between 2.9% and 12%. During the years 1997 and 1998, we saw 8 new patients with typical Meniere's syndrome in our outpatient department. They were referred to Dr Messias, who did a careful search for other affected family members. Six of them had relatives with Meniere's syndrome and migraine transmitted in an autosomal dominant mode. The familial incidence of Meniere's syndrome and migraine in Brasilia seems to be higher than the figures of Morrison et al for the United Kingdom. The 6 families are described herein.