scholarly journals Age-Associated Characteristics of Patients With Chronic Dizziness and Vertigo

2021 ◽  
pp. 089198872110361
Author(s):  
Alexander Wassermann ◽  
Sigrid Finn ◽  
Hubertus Axer

Objective: The incidence of dizziness and vertigo is increasing with age, and symptoms lead to significant limitations in daily living and to disability in older patients. Method: Data of 1,752 patients with chronic dizziness/vertigo subjected to a tertiary care, specialized interdisciplinary vertigo center were analyzed. Age, gender, symptoms, medical diagnosis, and Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) were collected based on a questionnaire and analysis of associated patient records. The patients were assigned to 3 age groups (< 41, 41-65, and > 65 years). Results: 33.7% of the patients were older than 65 years. Frequency of symptoms and DHI score increased with age. Older patients reported less frequently about coexisting symptoms such as nausea, headache, tinnitus, ear pressure, and visual impairment. Multisensory deficit, central vertigo, bilateral vestibulopathy, and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo were diagnosed increasingly with age, while persistent postural–perceptual dizziness and vestibular migraine were diagnosed in the younger age groups. Conclusion: In the diagnostic work-up of older patients age-specific characteristics of dizziness/vertigo have to be considered. The older patient generally is more impaired by the symptoms but possibly will not report typical diagnosis-defining symptoms.

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1056
Author(s):  
Cristiano Balzanelli ◽  
Daniele Spataro ◽  
Luca Oscar Redaelli de Zinis

(1) Background: To assess the prevalence and frequency distribution of balance disorders in children and adolescents to delineate the planning of a targeted clinical and instrumental diagnostic work-up; (2) Methods: Retrospective analysis of the clinical documentation of patients under 18 years suffering from balance disorders from 2010 to 2019. Detailed collection of clinical history, accurate clinical examination, including both nystagmus and vestibulospinal signs examinations, and specific instrumental testing were the basis of the diagnostic process. (3) Results: A total of 472 participants were included in the study. Vestibular loss (26.1%) was the most frequent cause of vertigo in children, followed by vestibular migraine (21.2%) and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (10.2%). In 1.1% of patients, the cause of vertigo remained undefined; (4) Conclusions: The diagnostic process applied was effective in understanding the cause of balance disorders in most cases and prevents more complex and expensive investigations reserved for only a few selected cases.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Huang ◽  
Sherri L. Smith ◽  
Libor Brezina ◽  
Kristal M. Riska

Purpose There is a paucity of data that directly compares the falls rate and dizziness handicap of different vestibular diagnoses. The purpose of this study is to compare the falls rate and dizziness handicap of common vestibular diagnoses encountered among a cohort of vestibular patients at a single institution. Method We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of patients evaluated for dizziness at a tertiary care center vestibular clinic between August 1, 2017, and March 19, 2019. Vestibular diagnosis, demographic variables, comorbidities, falls status, and Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) were extracted from the medical record for analysis. Associations between vestibular diagnosis and falls history or DHI were evaluated using multivariate logistic and linear regression, respectively. Results A total of 283 patients met our inclusion criteria with the following diagnoses: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV; n = 55), acoustic neuroma ( n = 30), Ménière's disease ( n = 28), multiple vestibular diagnoses ( n = 15), vestibular migraine ( n = 135), or vestibular neuritis ( n = 20). After adjusting for age, sex, race, medications, and comorbidities, the odds of falling was 2.47 times greater (95% CI [1.08, 6.06], p = .039) and the DHI score was 11.66 points higher (95% CI [4.99, 18.33], p < .001) in those with vestibular migraine compared to those with BPPV. Other diagnoses were comparable to BPPV with respect to odds of falling and dizziness handicap. Conclusions Patients with vestibular migraine may suffer an increased risk of falls and dizziness handicap compared to patients with BPPV. Our findings highlight the need for timely evaluation and treatment of all patients with vestibular disease.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Patel Meghraj Singh

Background: - Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a common cause of vertigo. The diagnosis is often delayed and patients are unnecessarily investigated and treated with drugs. Aim: To analyze the patient profile, duration of symptoms, etiology, associated co-morbidities, type of canal involvement and response to CRP in cases of BPPV. Material & Methods: The present prospective study was conducted at a tertiary care centre from January 2015 to December 2016 in 90 patients with a clinical diagnosis of BPPV. Patient particular and disease specific data were recorded in preset profoma and analyzed. All these patients were treated by different CRP specific for the canal involved. All cases were reassessed for post procedural response. Results: Total 90 patients were included in the study with age range of 20 to 76 year. Mean age was 46.74. Maximum patients (26.67%) were in the age range of 41-50 year with male: female was 1:1.43. The duration of symptoms was in from 2 days to more than 3 years. Most common morbidity was diabetes and most common cause was Idiopathic (82.22%). Most of these patients presented with positional vertigo (94.44%). Right posterior canal was involved in 52 cases (57.78%) and left in 30 (33.33%) cases. Conclusion: BPPV is a common cause of vertigo. More awareness needed about its symptoms, early application of Dix-Hallpike test and Epley’s procedure to reduce the suffering of patients and to reduce unnecessary diagnostic tests and costs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A2.1-A2
Author(s):  
Sue Mason

IntroductionThe 4 h emergency standard for English acute trusts was introduced in 2003 and became full established by 2008 at 98% for all Emergency Department (ED) patients to be seen and discharged. This study examined the impact of the target for older patients attending departments.MethodsRoutine patient level data was received from 15 English EDs representing 774 095 individual patient attendances during May and June for 2003 to 2006. The data were used to determine the distribution of the total time spent in the EDs. Attendances were compared for older patients (65 years and above) with younger age groups.ResultsA total of 145 596 attendances were for patients aged 65+ years (18.9%). Across each year analysed, these older patients have a significantly longer median total time in the ED than those younger than 65 years (162 min vs 103 min, p<0.001). In addition, older patients are significantly more likely to leave the emergency department in the last 20 min prior to 4 h (12.4% vs 5.2% in those <65 years, p<0.001). This proportion is growing year on year in both the admitted and discharged categories of patients. Finally, older patients are significantly more likely to breach the 4-h than their younger counterparts (16.6% vs 6.3%, p<0.001).ConclusionsThere are some unintended consequences of introducing the 4 h target in UK emergency departments. While the target has reduced overall time in departments, the older patient appears to be disadvantaged relative to younger patients. Older patients are more likely to be ‘rushed through’ to other unmonitored areas of the hospital just prior to the target or to breach the target altogether. This finding calls in to question the benefits that the target is conveying for individual patients, and especially the most vulnerable in society.


2005 ◽  
Vol 93 (03) ◽  
pp. 605-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Couturaud ◽  
Florence Parent ◽  
Guy Meyer ◽  
Philippe Girard ◽  
Grégoire Le Gal ◽  
...  

SummaryAs the prevalence of PE increases with age, the effect of age on the diagnostic work-up in front of a clinical suspicion of PE deserves exploration. In this retrospective analysis, we used the data from 1041 consecutive suspected PE patients. The patients were divided into three groups according to tertiles of age: under 54 years, 54 to 73 years and above 73 years. The prevalence of PE in patients with respectively low, intermediate and high pretest clinical probability was expressed within each age group. We studied the effect of age on the results observed in three main groups of patients, after performing CT scan and ultrasonography (CUS): (1) patients with inconclusive results; (2) patients with negative findings on both exams and non high pretest clinical probability;(3) patients with positive findings. The prevalence of PE increased significantly with age, in overall, as well as in patients with low or intermediate pretest clinical probability. An analysis according to the three main diagnostic groups showed that: (1) the distribution of inconclusive spiral CT or CUS examinations was not different between age groups;(2) no thromboembolic event occurred in untreated patients with low or intermediate clinical probability aged under 54 years of age, whereas 7 events were diagnosed in patients aged over 73 years (p< 0.001); (3) a higher proportion of older patients had a positive result at both spiral CT and CUS examinations. The percentage of positive CT scans in the case of negative or inconclusive CUS results was not different between age groups; conversely, in the case of a negative or inconclusive CT scan, the percentage of positive CUS was higher in older patients. In conclusion, management of elderly suspected PE patients appears to be different from both the work-up and the outcome perspectives.


1978 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. H. Hare

SummaryThe quarterly distribution of births of patients born in England and Wales 1921–60 and first admitted in 1970–75 was examined by decade of birth and by age at year of admission. For patients with schizophrenia and affective psychosis, the distribution varied: in the early decade (1921–30), and for older patients (45–54 years) the proportion of births in the fourth quarter of the year was high, compared with expectation from live births in the general population; but it became lower in succeeding decades and for younger age groups. No comparable change occurred for births of patients with neurosis or personality disorder.


2015 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. S1023-S1024
Author(s):  
Anjana Sathyamurthy ◽  
Mohamad H. Yousef ◽  
Harleen K. Chela ◽  
Bhupinder Romana ◽  
Zainab Arif ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Celastina Synthia ◽  
. Rameshwar

Background: Traumatic brain injury is a common secondary cause of  Benign Paroxysmal  Positional Vertigo(BPPV). Objective: To determine the incidence and clinical profile of patients with BPPV in mild and moderate head injury. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study done in patients admitted with  mild and moderate head injury who developed BPPV from January 2020 to March 2020 in a tertiary care hospital of  South India. Demographic and clinical parameters were noted and were treated with canalith repositioning procedures. Results: Among 42 patients admitted with mild and moderate head injury, 9(21.4%) were diagnosed with BPPV in the follow up. The male female ratio was 2.5:1. The mean age was 44 ±21.4years.Two wheeler accidents contributed to nearly half of (55.6%) traumatic BPPV. Posterior canal was commonly involved in 7(77.8%) followed by horizontal in 2 (22.2%).The type of head injury was mild in 7 (77.8%) and moderate in 2 (22.2%) in traumatic BPPV patients. 5 (55.6%) patients with BPPV had abnormal findings in neuroimaging. 4 (44.4%) patients developed recurrent BPPV in our cohort. Conclusion: The incidence of traumatic BPPV was 21.4% in our study. Road traffic accidents due to two wheeler accidents were the common mode of head trauma. Posterior canal was commonly involved in three fourth of cases. Recurrence of vertigo was documented in 4 (44.4%).


Author(s):  
Mazyar Hashemilar ◽  
Masoud Nikanfar ◽  
Dariush Savadi Oskoui

Vertigo is a common complaint in neurology and medicine. The most common causes of vertigo are benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, vestibular neuritis, Meniere’s disease, and vascular disorders. Vertigo of vascular origin is usually limited to migraine, transient ischemic attacks, and ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. Vascular causes lead to various central or peripheral vestibular syndromes with vertigo. This review provides an overview of epidemiology and clinical syndromes of vascular vertigo.Vertigo is an illusion of movement caused by asymmetrical involvement of the vestibular system by various causes. Migraine is the most frequent vascular disorder that causes vertigo in all age groups. Vertigo may occur in up to 25% of patients with migraine. The lifetime prevalence of migrainous vertigo is almost 1%. Cerebrovascular disorders are estimated to account for 3% to 7% of patients with vertigo. Vestibular paroxysmia has been diagnosed in 1.8% to 4% of cases in various dizziness units. Vasculitic disorders are rare in the general population, but vertigo may be seen in almost up to 50% of patients with different vasculitic syndromes.Conclusions: Migraine, cerebrovascular disorders especially involving the vertebrobasilar territory, cardiocirculatory diseases, neurovascular compression of the eighth nerve, and vasculitis are vascular causes of vertigo syndromes.     


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