Aging and wave-component latency delays in oVEMP and cVEMP: a systematic review with meta-analysis()

INTRODUCTION: The natural aging process may result in morphological changes in the vestibular system and in the afferent neural pathway, including loss of hair cells, decreased numbers of vestibular nerve cells, and loss of neurons in the vestibular nucleus. Thus, with advancing age, there should be a decrease in amplitudes and an increase in latencies of the vestibular evoked myogenic potentials, especially the prolongation of p13 latency. Moreover, many investigations have found no significant differences in latencies with advancing age. OBJECTIVE: To determine if there are significant differences in the latencies of cervical and ocular evoked myogenic potentials between elderly and adult patients. METHODS: This is a systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies, comparing the differences of these parameters between elderly and young adults, without language or date restrictions, in the following databases: Pubmed, ScienceDirect, SCOPUS, Web of Science, SciELO and LILACS, in addition to the gray literature databases: OpenGrey.eu and DissOnline, as well as Research Gate. RESULTS: The n1 oVEMP latencies had a mean delay in the elderly of 2.32 ms with 95% CI of 0.55–4.10 ms. The overall effect test showed p = 0.01, disclosing that such difference was significant. The heterogeneity found was I(2) = 96% (p < 0.001). Evaluation of p1 latency was not possible due to the low number of articles selected for this condition. cVEMP analysis was performed in 13 articles. For the p13 component, the mean latency delay in the elderly was 1.34 ms with 95% CI of 0.56–2.11 ms. The overall effect test showed a p < 0.001, with heterogeneity value I(2) = 92% (p < 0.001). For the n23 component, the mean latency delay for the elderly was 2.82 ms with 95% CI of 0.33–5.30 ms. The overall effect test showed p = 0.03. The heterogeneity found was I(2) = 99% (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The latency of oVEMP n1 wave component and latencies of cVEMP p13 and n23 wave components are longer in the elderly aged >60 years than in young adults.