Association between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Meniere’s Disease: A Longitudinal Follow-Up Study Using a National Health Screening Cohort

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of pre-existing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on the occurrence of Meniere’s disease (MD). The 2002–2015 Korean National Health Insurance Service—Health Screening Cohort data were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 3038 participants with RA were matched with 12,152 control participants for demographic factors. The occurrence of MD was evaluated in both the RA and control groups. The hazard ratios (HRs) of RA for participants with MD were calculated using a stratified Cox proportional hazard model. Additionally, subgroup analyses were conducted. The rate of MD was not different between the RA and control groups (1.5% vs. 1.3%, standardized difference = 0.01). The HR was not higher in the RA group than in the MD group (adjusted HR = 1.03, 95% confidence interval = 0.73–1.44, p = 0.885). A higher HR of RA for participants with MD was found in the ≥60-year-old subgroup in the crude model but not in the adjusted model. An association between RA and MD was not found in any of the other subgroups. A previous history of RA was not related to an increased risk of MD.

Immune‐Related Disorders Associated With Ménière's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis

“…In contrast, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis were not associated with MD in the East Asian population. 9,10 This population-specific association in MD suggest different environmental factors that may contribute to maintaining an allergic inflammation in East Asian populations and an increased susceptibility to autoimmune disorders in European populations with the different immune response across different populations.…”

“…The data from 6 studies 9,10,[12][13][14]19 were extracted from the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort 2002 to 2015, which is a nationwide cohort sample of data representing approximately 1 million patients. 20 Another Asian Nationwide study included 21 used the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000, which contains the medical reimbursement claims data of 1 million people randomly sampled from the entire population of Taiwan registered in 2000.…”

“…associated with a common regulatory variant (rs4947296) in a large case-control study involving multiple genes and nuclear factor (NF)-κB-mediated inflammation. 8 Epidemiological studies show that MD displays an elevated prevalence of systemic and tissue-specific immune-related diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, 9 allergic rhinitis, 10 systemic lupus erythematosus, 11 allergic dermatitis, 12 ankylosing spondylitis, 11 asthma, 13 and several thyroid diseases. 14 Taken together, these findings suggest an autoimmune background in a subset of patients with MD; however, the population-specific effect involving genetic and shared environmental factors has not been considered and they may explain differences in the pathophysiology of MD across different continents.…”