Vestibular semicircular canal function as detected by video Head Impulse Test (vHIT) is essentially unchanged in people with Parkinson's disease compared to healthy controls.

Abstract

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common multi-system neurodegenerative disorder with possible vestibular system dysfunction, but prior vestibular function test findings are equivocal.

Objective: To report and compare vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain as measured by the video head impulse test (vHIT) in participants with PD, including tremor dominant and postural instability/gait dysfunction phenotypes, with healthy controls (HC).

Methods: Forty participants with PD and 40 age- and gender-matched HC had their vestibular function assessed. Lateral and vertical semicircular canal VOR gains were measured with vHIT. VOR canal gains between PD participants and HC were compared with independent samples t-tests. Two distinct PD phenotypes were compared to HC using Tukey's ANOVA. The relationship of VOR gain with PD duration, phenotype, severity and age were investigated using logistic regression.

Results: There were no significant differences between groups in vHIT VOR gain for lateral or vertical canals. There was no evidence of an effect of PD severity, phenotype or age on VOR gains in the PD group.

Conclusion: The impulsive angular VOR pathways are not significantly affected by the pathophysiological changes associated with mild to moderate PD.