The Demographics of Menière's Disease: Selection Bias or Differential Susceptibility? Otol Neurotol 2023 Feb 01;44(2):e95-e102
Date
12/09/2022Pubmed ID
36477093Pubmed Central ID
PMC9839510DOI
10.1097/MAO.0000000000003780Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85145973407 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 2 CitationsAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To clarify whether the reported lack of racial and ethnic diversity among Menière's disease (MD) patients is representative of selection bias or disease susceptibility.
STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective medical record review and population-level analyses.
SETTING: Tertiary referral center.
PATIENTS: Cohort of 1091 patients diagnosed with MD by the tertiary otology service.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Demographic and population-level characteristics (age, sex, race, insurance status, ZIP code, median income, education level) compared with local, regional, health system, and otolaryngology clinic demographics.
RESULTS: Patients seen for MD were significantly older than those seen throughout the otolaryngology clinic (median, 65.0 versus 58.8 yr) or health system (65.0 versus 50.8 yr). A majority of patients with MD were of White race (92%), compared with 2.7% Black race and 0.5% Asian. Using population-level data, median income and having medical insurance were significantly correlated with care for MD. A disproportionate rate of care for MD was seen in ZIP codes outside urban areas as compared with other otologic and otolaryngologic conditions seen in the same clinic.
CONCLUSION: Patients with MD are of older age, more likely to be of White race, and disproportionately from rural locales. The demographic profile of patients diagnosed with MD by tertiary otology is better explained by differential susceptibility to MD than by selection bias.
Author List
Thompson-Harvey A, Friedland DR, Adams JA, Tong L, Osinski K, Luo JAuthors
David R. Friedland MD Associate Director, Director, Chief, Professor in the Otolaryngology department at Medical College of WisconsinJake Luo Ph.D. Associate Professor; Director, Center for Biomedical Data and Language Processing (BioDLP) in the Health Informatics & Administration department at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
DemographyHumans
Meniere Disease
Retrospective Studies
Selection Bias
