Menstrual Cycle Effects on Otolith‑Ocular Reflex Pathway

Abstract

Introduction: Studies have shown morphological changes in the vestibule leading to alter the physiological changes during menstruation. And during the cycle, the level of hormones differs during different phases of the cycle. Hence, it is important to study the hormonal influences in the otolith-ocular pathways of females as the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMP) results might be interpreted wrongly if the different phase of the menstrual cycle affects the oVEMP results. The aim of the present study was to measure the changes in latency and amplitude of oVEMP test during three phases of the mensuration cycle. Materials and Methods: Twenty healthy females volunteers participated for the study and their otolith-ocular system was evaluated using oVEMP in three phases of the same cycle, i.e., menstruation phase (day 1–4), ovulation phase (day 12–17), and luteal phase (day 22–28). Results: oVEMP was present for all the participants in all the three phase of the menstrual cycle. For the obtained nonnormal data, nonparametric Freidman's Chi-square test was administered. The results showed no significant difference in latency or amplitude parameters of oVEMP across three recordings in participants, indicating that there was no significant effect of hormonal changes on oVEMPs recordings in females. Conclusions: It can be concluded that while assessing the vestibular system through an electrophysiological test like oVEMP, will not render differences in females based on their phases of menstruation cycles.