Current-day prevalence of Ménière's syndrome.

Previously reported prevalence rates of Ménière's syndrome (MS) have ranged from 3.5 per 100000 to 513 per 100000. Recent data regarding the prevalence in the United States are lacking. To further assess the current-day prevalence of MS in the US, data from a medical and pharmaceutical claims database containing information for over 60 million unique patients were analyzed. Patients in the database are representative of the national, commercially insured population on a variety of demographic measures including age, gender, health plan type, and geographic location. A 3-year period from 2005 to 2007 was analyzed. The prevalence of MS was 190 per 100000 with a female:male ratio of 1.89:1. The prevalence increased with increasing age, ranging from 9 per 100000 for patients under age 18 to 440 per 100000 for patients 65 years and older. Copyright 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.