Treating the most common causes of recurrent vertigo is associated with considerable costs, according to a study published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Habib Rizk, MD, MSc, and colleagues examined medical costs associated with Meniere’s disease (MD), vestibular migraine (VM), and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
(BPPV). Among 53,210 individuals, 10.9% had MD, 6.6% had VM, and 82.5% had BPPV; 34,738 served as controls. Patients with no comorbidities or with a Charlson Comorbidity Index score of 0 varied from 98.4% to 98.8% across groups. About 5% of patients were hospitalized; inpatient stays lasted for 4.6 to 5.2 days. Large differences were
seen in mean adjusted annual payments/direct costs across groups after adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities ($9,579 for MD, $11,371 for VM, and $8,247 for BPPV). Compared with controls, this equated to a total incremental estimated cost of $60 billion. The number of outpatient brain MRI or CT scans per patient ranged from 1 to 20:
there were one to six inpatient brain MRI or CT scans per person.
