[Effects of age and involved semicircular canals on the caloric test in patients with primary horizontal semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo].

Objective: To investigate the effects of age and involved semicircular canals on the results of caloric test in patients with primary horizontal semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo（BPPV）. Methods: A total of 258 patients conforming to the diagnosis of primary horizontal semicircular canal BPPV were selected as the case group, and another 110 non-BPPV patients with dizziness/vertigo as the main complaint were selected as the control group. Both groups were divided into elderly group and young and middle-aged group according to their age, and the general information and the results of the caloric test were compared and analyzed for each group. Results: ①There was no statistically significant difference in gender composition and type of involved semicircular canal between the different age groups（ P >0.05）；②In patients with horizontal semicircular canal canalolithiasis, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of abnormal caloric test results between the different age groups（ P >0.05）；③In patients with horizontal semicircular canal cupulolithiasis, there was a statistically significant difference in the rate of abnormal caloric test results between the different age groups（ P <0.05）；④In the same age group, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of abnormal caloric test results between the patients with horizontal semicircular canal canalolithiasis and the patients with cupulolithiasis（ P >0.05）；⑤In the control group, there was no statistically significant difference between the different age groups in gender composition（ P >0.05）；⑥In the control group, there was a statistically significant difference in the rate of abnormal caloric test results between the different age groups（ P <0.05）；⑦Among the patients in the same age group, there was no statistically significant difference in the age distribution between the case and control groups（ P >0.05）；⑧In patients of the same age group, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of abnormal caloric test results between the case and control groups（ P >0.05）. Conclusion: The involvement of the semicircular canal does not affect the results of the caloric test, but age can affect the results, especially in BPPV patients with horizontal semicircular canal cupulolithiasis.