Menière's disease in children

Abstract

Fourteen children (aged 14 years or younger) with typical Ménière's triad with cochlear sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and intermittent vertigo attacks lasting from minutes to hours were investigated in four different neuro-otologic centers. Nine children, labeled as having "idiopathic Ménière's disease," developed the auditory and vestibular symptoms without any detectable causative factor. Five children, labeled as suffering from "secondary Ménière's syndrome," had histories of an initial hearing loss following mumps, hemophilus influenza meningitis, temporal bone fracture, or congenital or embryopathic complications in the ear that developed into the full Ménière's triad 5 to 11 years later. The 14 children represent 1% of all cases affected with idiopathic or secondary Ménière's disease (or syndrome) that have been detected during the past five years in the four collaborating centers.