Vestibular function can be affected by autoimmune processes in rheumatoid arthritis

Background and aim: autoimmune inner ear disease (aied) may accompany certain systemic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and manifest audiovestibular dysfunction. this study aimed to compare the vestibular function between rheumatoid arthritis (ra) patients and normal subjects using cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials and caloric tests.methods: in this cross-sectional study, 25 patients with ra and 20 normal subjects underwent pure tone audiometry, acoustic immittance, cervical vestibular-evoked myogenicpotentials (cvemps), and bithermal caloric test which eye movements were recorded by videonystagmography.results: sensorineural hearing loss was found in 40% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, which was significantly higher than controls (p < 0.05). biphasic waveforms of cvemps were obtained from all of the participants. there were no significant differences in mean peak-to-peak amplitude and asymmetry ratio between the two groups (p > 0.05). the mean peak latency of p13 was significantly higher in ra patients (p < 0.05). the mean peak latency of n23 was statistically different in the left ear (p < 0.05), but in the right ear the difference was not significant (p > 0.05). unilateral weakness in patients with ra were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05). the values of directional preponderance were not significantly different between groups (p > 0.05).conclusion: audiovestibular dysfunction may present in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis to a varying degree. the possible pathology was discussed in here. further studies may shade more light to the pathogenesis of the aied.