INTRODUCTION
Vestibular neuritis (VN) has an incidence of 3.5 per 100,000 persons and is the third most frequent cause of peripheral vestibular vertigo.1, 2 Treatment of acute VN is based on the following three therapeutic principles: (1) symptomatic therapy, (2) causal therapy, and (3) improvement of central vestibular compensation. Studies in the 1990s indicated that corticosteroids can improve the course of “acute vertigo.”1, 2 Corticosteroids have been used in therapy based on the theoretic viral cause of VN.3 Corticosteroids can also be effective not only in the peripheral vestibular system, but also in the central vestibular system to restore balance.4
However, the latest Cochrane review in 2011 concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support the use of corticosteroids in VN but it stated that corticosteroids had a significant effect on complete caloric recovery at 1 month.5 After that review, several reports issued newly an interest in the use of corticosteroids for VN.6, 7 Ismail et al.6 proposed that corticosteroids may accelerate the recovery of VN. Sjogren et al.7 describe a critical period when treatment with corticosteroids could be effective. In addition, the Cochrane review published in 2011 proposed the need for future studies, including those addressing health-related quality of life, subjective measures, and objective measures. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis including more updated literature since the latest Cochrane review was published.5