Clinical evaluation of elderly people with chronic vestibular disorder.
Dizziness is common among the elderly.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize social, demographic, clinical, functional and otoneurological data in elderly patients with chronic vestibular disorder.


METHODS
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.
Gazzola
Juliana Maria
JM
EPM, UNIFESP, Brazil.
Ganança
Fernando Freitas
FF
Aratani
Mayra Cristina
MC
Perracini
Monica Rodrigues
MR
Ganança
Maurício Malavasi
MM
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004244:Dizziness / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000145:classification* / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology