Research in Vestibular Science

Original Article

Intravenous Zoledronic Acid in Elderly Patients with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo and Osteoporosis: Dong Won Kwack, Hyemi Lee, Dong Wook Kim; Res Vestib Sci. 2020;19(3):95-98. Published online September 15, 2020; DOI: https://doi.org/10.21790/rvs.2020.19.3.95

Abstract PDF: Objectives
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), a common cause of vertigo in the elderly, shares common pathogenic mechanisms with osteoporosis. We investigated the efficacy and safety of intravenous zoledronic acid in elderly patients with BPPV and osteoporosis.
Methods
We performed a 3-year observational study with elderly patients who were diagnosed with BPPV and osteoporosis. The recurrence of BPPV and changes in bone mineral densitometry (BMD) scores were evaluated one year after the administration of intravenous zoledronic acid.
Results
We enrolled 101 elderly patients with BPPV and 54 of them (53.5%) met the diagnostic criteria for osteoporosis. Intravenous zoledronic acid was administered in 51 patients. The recurrence of BPPV was observed in only two of 49 patients (4.1%) at 1 year’s follow-up. The mean lowest T-score of BMD improved from –3.23±0.51 to –3.05±0.58 (p=0.001).
Conclusions
Our study showed that the treatment of osteoporosis can be considered to prevent the recurrence of BPPV in the elderly. Further placebo-controlled studies are needed to estimate accurately the efficacy of zoledronic acid in the prevention of recurrence of BPPV in the elderly.

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