ArticleJournal of neurology2024
Prevalence of vestibular disease in France: analysis of prescription data from a national health insurance database.
Article in Journal of neurology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Specific and nonspecific diagnoses of dizziness and vertigo in primary care: A descriptive study.Atencion primaria · 2026Article
- Prevalence and direct costs of vestibular disease in France - matched case-control study results from the 2022 and 2023 french health data system.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2026Article
- Article
- Factors influencing appropriate vestibular care: An interview study with general practitioners and patients.The European journal of general practice · 2025Article
- Anti-vertigo drug prescribing for patients with vestibular symptoms in primary care: a retrospective observational cohort study.BJGP open · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Vestibular problems are frequent reasons for primary care consultations. However, there is considerable uncertainty about the prevalence and cost of vestibular disorders. Despite ambiguous effectiveness data, the histamine analogue betahistine is widely and almost exclusively used for treatment of vertigo. Prescription of betahistine can, therefore, be used as a proxy estimate for prevalence. We used openly available claims data from the French health insurance data warehouse, defining annual prevalence of vestibular disease as the number of people who received at least one betahistine prescription that year. Dosage and pack size of each prescribed formulation were extracted to calculate the sum of betahistine in mg and the Defined Daily Dose (DDD) for age and sex strata and in total. To estimate the relative impact of one landmark trial, the BEMED study, we compared prescriptions from the years 2014/2015 to prescriptions in 2019/2022. A total of 735,121 (2014), 694,705 (2015), 614,431 (2019), and 562,476 (2022) persons filled in a prescription of betahistine. Patients were predominantly older and female. Average amount dispensed per year and per person increased from 4422.54 mg during the pre-BEMED period to 4736.90 mg during the post-BEMED period. DDD decreased from 130 Mio per year in 2014/2015 to 116 Mio per year in 2019/2022. Total costs for betahistine decreased by 42% from 21,615,037 Euro in 2014 to 12,894,249 Euro in 2022. Vestibular disease is frequent in France and has a relevant impact on population health. Despite conflicting clinical evidence, betahistine continues to be prescribed widely in medical practice.
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