Does the Weather Cause this Disease?

Meniere's disease, an inner-ear disorder for which no treatment exists, causes chronic bouts of vertigo and vomiting. The symptoms come at random.

Or do they? A study launched by a team of Dartmouth geographers and physicians is asking Meniere's sufferers to record the precise times and locations of attacks to see if they are linked with changes in atmospheric pressure.

The Meniere's Project originated with geography-professor George Demko, who has suffered from Meniere's for a decade. Demko noticed that his attacks coincided with the arrival of weather fronts, a relationship no previous study had explored. Internist James Leiter and otolaryngologist Glenn Johnson, both of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, are helping Demko, along with geography professor Laura Conkey, an expert in microclimatic data (and a fellow Meniere's sufferer).

Demko says there may be comfort in predictability: "There's a lot of suicide associated with Meniere's because people don't know when the next attack is going to come."

Air pressure may makeMeniere's sufferers; feelunder the weather.