Background and Aim: Patients with type I diabetes mellitus commonly complain about dizziness, floating sensation, tinnitus, weakness, and sweating. The aim of this study was comparing vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) between these patients and normal people.

Methods: Twenty-four patients with type I diabetes mellitus and twenty-four healthy volunteers with the age range of 15-40 years were enrolled in this study. A tone burst of 500 Hz, with the intensity of 95 dB nHL, was delivered through a insert earphone and vestibular evoked myogenic potential was recorded. The t-test was used to compare the results between the two groups. To investigate the effect of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) on VEMP responses (latency, absolute and relative amplitude), the regression analysis was used.

Results: The mean p13 and n23 latency were significantly more in patients with type Ι diabetes mellitus (for P13 latency, p=0.013 in right and p=0.010 in left ear, and for n23 latency, p<0.001 in right and p=0.005 in left ear). There was no significant difference between two groups in absolute and relative amplitude and prevalence of the VEMP (p>0.050). There was no correlation between VEMPs and HbA1c in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Prolonged latencies of the VEMP in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus suggest lesions in the retrolabyrinthine, especially in the vestibulospinal tract. Nevertheless, due to the limited number of examined samples, further investigation with more patients should be performed.