Seasonality in Vestibular Neuronitis

Abstract

Objective: 1) Determine the incidence of vestibular neuronitis at our institution over a 36-month period. 2) Use statistical methods to assess the incidence of vestibular neuronitis for seasonal variation.

Method: A retrospective case review was performed to determine the incidence of vestibular neuronitis at our institution over the 36-month period from May 1, 2008, to April 30, 2011. The c² test and Rayleigh test for circular means were then used to assess the incidence for uneven distribution and seasonality, respectively.

Results: A total of 52 patients were diagnosed with vestibular neuronitis during the study period. The 2009-2010 study year showed uneven distribution (c² = 24.91, 11 df, P = .009) as well as evidence of seasonality (R = 7.211, P < .001). However, the other 2 study years did not show statistical significance by either the c² test (2008-2009: c² = 7.95, 11 df, P = .718; 2010-2011: c² = 11.85, 11 df, P = .375) or Rayleigh test (2008-2009: R = 0.320, P = .732; 2010-2011: R = 1.626, P = .199). In addition, when incidence values were aggregated across all 3 study years, both the c² test (c² = 4.31, 2 df, P = .116) and Rayleigh test (R = 1.472, P = .229) failed to show statistical significance.

Conclusion: The present study found minimal evidence of seasonality in the incidence of vestibular neuronitis. However, due to small sample size, further study is warranted, as evidence of seasonality would lend further credit to a viral etiology of the disease.