Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Oct 31;17(8):e7068.
doi: 10.5867/medwave.2017.08.7068.

Is betahistine effective for Ménière’s disease?

[Article in Spanish, English]
Andrés Rosenbaum  1 , Matías Winter  2
Affiliations
Review

Is betahistine effective for Ménière’s disease?

[Article in Spanish, English]
Andrés Rosenbaum et al. Medwave. .

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Problem: Meniere’s disease is an inner ear disorder characterized by episodes of spontaneous vertigo, fluctuating hearing loss and tinnitus. Betahistine has been used to reduce intensity and frecuency of vertigo attacks, but there is controversy regarding its effectiveness.

Methods: To answer this question we used Epistemonikos, the largest database of systematic reviews in health, which is maintained by screening multiple information sources, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, among others. We extracted data from the systematic reviews, reanalyzed data of primary studies, conducted a meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table using the GRADE approach.

Results and conclusions: We identified four systematic reviews including 12 trials overall. We concluded betahistine might reduce the number of attacks, vertigo intensity and lead to a symptomatic improvement according to global judgement in patients with Meniere’s disease, but the certainty of evidence is low. On the other hand, it probably does not have significant adverse effects.

Introducción: La enfermedad de Ménière es una anomalía del oído interno caracterizada por episodios de vértigo espontáneo, hipoacusia fluctuante y tinnitus. La betahistina ha sido utilizada para reducir la intensidad y frecuencia de las crisis de vértigo, pero existe controversia respecto a su eficacia.

Métodos: Para responder esta pregunta utilizamos Epistemonikos, la mayor base de datos de revisiones sistemáticas en salud a nivel mundial, la cual es mantenida mediante búsquedas en múltiples fuentes de información, incluyendo MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, entre otras. Extrajimos los datos desde las revisiones identificadas, reanalizamos los datos de los estudios primarios, realizamos un metanálisis, preparamos tablas de resumen de los resultados utilizando el método GRADE.

Resultados y conclusiones: Identificamos 4 revisiones sistemáticas que en conjunto incluyen 12 estudios primarios, todos ellos corresponden a ensayos aleatorizados. Concluimos que el uso de betahistina podría disminuir el número de crisis, la intensidad del vértigo y llevar a una mejoría global sintomática en los pacientes con enfermedad de Ménière, pero la certeza de la evidencia es baja. Por otra parte, probablemente no tiene efectos adversos importantes.

PubMed Disclaimer

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources