Clinical evaluation of elderly people with chronic vestibular disorder

Author(s)

Juliana Maria Gazzola ^[1] ; Fernando Freitas Ganança ; Mayra Cristina Aratani ^[3] ; Monica Rodrigues Perracini ; Maurício Malavasi Ganança

Affiliation

^[1] Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo – Vila Clementino. Escola Paulista de Medicina. - Brasil

^[3] UNIFESP. EPM. Setor de Reabilitação Vestibular da Disciplina de Otoneurologia

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Revista Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia; v. 72, n. 4, p. 515-522, 2006-08-00.
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy

Abstract

Dizziness is common among the elderly. AIM: To characterize social, demographic, clinical, functional and otoneurological data in elderly patients with chronic vestibular disorder. METHOD: A sequential study of 120 patients with chronic vestibular disorder. Simple descriptive analyses were undertaken. RESULTS: Most of the patients were female (68.3%) with a mean age of 73.40±5.77 years. The average number of illnesses associated with the vestibular disorder was 3.83±1.84; the patients were taking on average 3.86±2.27 different medications. The most prevalent diagnosis on the vestibular exam was unilateral vestibular loss (29.8%) and the most prevalent etiology was metabolic vestibulopathy (40.0%) followed by benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (36.7%). Fifty-two patients (43.3%) had experienced dizziness for 5 years or more. Sixty-four patients (53.3%) had at least one fall in the last year and thirty-five (29.2%) had recurrent falls. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the sample included females with associated diseases, and using many different drugs. The most prevalent vestibular diseases were metabolic and vascular labyrinth conditions. Dizziness is a chronic symptom in elderly patients. The association of two vestibular diseases is common. Falls are prevalent in chronic dizzy elderly patients. (AU)