Finnish familial Meniere disease is not linked to chromosome 12p12.3, and anticipation and cosegregation with migraine are not common findings

High incidence of Meniere-like symptoms in relatives of Meniere patients in the areas of Oulu University Hospital and Kainuu Central Hospital in Finland

“…Since the first reports on FMD, cosegregation with migraine has been suggested and several families with MD and migraine headaches have been reported [5,22,24]. Conversely, FMD families without migraine have also been reported [4,11]. There were three FMD families in the present series in which all the affected individuals had migraine implying possible co-segregation, but there were also some that did not manifest migraine at all.…”

“…It is possible that anticipation phenomenon in MD is nothing more than a bias caused by the increase in health-care availability among generations, as we have suggested earlier [11]. Thus Finland is a wellknown genetic isolate and it may be that genetic factors possibly responsible for FMD and anticipation in some families are not common in our gene pool.…”

“…FMD has been linked to chromosome 12p12.3 in affected Swedish families [9,13], but no such linkage was seen in Finnish MD families [11]. Quite recently a possible linkage to chromosome 5 and a second locus on chromosome 12 were observed in an analysis of 17 German FMD families [3].…”

Genetics of Recurrent Vertigo and Vestibular Disorders

“…The inheritance was autosomal dominant and the majority of patients were women, a finding also observed in British and German patients with FMD [47, 49]. A recent study in 16 Finnish families did not confirm anticipation, co segregation with migraine or linkage to the 12p12.3 region found in Swedish FMD, suggesting genetic heterogeneity within FMD [58]. …”

“…FMD has also been investigated in Finland in 8 families with 17 individuals with definite FMD [58]. The inheritance was autosomal dominant and the majority of patients were women, a finding also observed in British and German patients with FMD [47, 49].…”