Effects of Pressure on Meniere's Symptoms
1) Study Population

In this study, the responses of 81 subjects who participated in the survey are summarized. The survey was performed over the internet by sampling visitors to this site who had been diagnosed by a physician as having Meniere's disease and who classified themselves as sensitive to pressure changes. Based on clinical experience, it is likely that the majority of Meniere's patients would regard themselves as sensitive to pressure, so this does not represent a minority of the population. Survey participants were asked to provide their names, telephone numbers and their physician names for verification purposes.

Age of survey participants

Relative to the age distribution of Meniere's in the general population seen in other studies , we saw a predominance of patients in their 30's and 40's in this study, with less representation of patients over 50 years in age. This is almost certainly the result of the recruitment method used, which sampled responses from visitors to this internet web site. Since computer use is less common among older individuals, this will have distorted our sample.

Sex Distribution of survey participants

Males	29	36%
Females	52	64%

Average time since being diagnosed as Meniere's

7.6 years

Eye Color of survey participants

Individuals with light (blue/gray/green) or dark (brown) eyes are both susceptible to Meniere's disease.
The rationale for asking this question was to test whether Meniere's disease correlated with pigmentation of the ear. We know that the fluid secretory structure of the ear (stria vascularis) contains melanin. The amount of melanin in the ear correlates not with skin color, but with the amount of pigmentation in the eye. Individuals with dark brown eyes would be expected to have higher amounts of melanin in the stria vascularis of their ears. It has been suggested that melanin may be involved in calcium homeostasis of cochlear endolymph, and in animals with endolymphatic hydrops (one of the problems in Meniere's disease) it has been shown that endolymph calcium becomes elevated. However, the fact that there is no predominance of one eye color in the Meniere's population suggests that pigmentation and calcium issues are not of primary importance.