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Vestibular functions in motion sickness susceptible individuals

  • Otology
  • Published:
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Abstract

There exists no functional guide that can serve as a diagnostic tool for individual susceptibility to motion sickness (MS). We evaluated vestibular system functioning via a caloric test (which assesses functioning of the superior vestibular nerve) and the vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) test (which assesses inferior vestibular nerve functioning) in 20 MS susceptible and 20 nonsusceptible individuals. Susceptibility to MS was determined by self-declaration and with MS susceptibility questionnaire and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAS). We found statistically significant differences for scores on the MS susceptibility questionnaire and HAS questionnaire; however, we found no correlation between VEMP and caloric test results. We suggest that VEMP and caloric test results are not affected by individuals’ susceptibility to MS. We could not find vestibular system deficits using the VEMP and caloric test combination. Our findings do not support vestibular function asymmetry in MS patients.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the volunteers in this study, the medical students Arinc İkiz, Mert Basaran, Merve Dirikoc, and Kadirhan Akyol from Baskent University for their assistance, the audiometrists at our clinic for their technical support, and Dr. Elif Durukan from the Department of Public Health, Baskent University, for statistical analysis. This research was supported by a grant, No. KA07/206, from the Baskent Research Foundation.

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  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Bahcelievler, 06490, Ankara, Turkey

    Fuat Buyuklu, Erkan Tarhan & Levent Ozluoglu

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  1. Fuat Buyuklu
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  2. Erkan Tarhan
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  3. Levent Ozluoglu
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Correspondence to Fuat Buyuklu.

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Buyuklu, F., Tarhan, E. & Ozluoglu, L. Vestibular functions in motion sickness susceptible individuals. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 266, 1365–1371 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-009-0927-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-009-0927-6

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