[Alterations of balance in patients under 16 years of age distributed by age groups].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of children with altered balance, as well as to establish the level of importance of the audiological, balance and imaging studies in the diagnosis of infantile vestibular pathology.


METHODS
We report a descriptive, retrospective and non-randomized study performed at the Otorhinolaryngology Department of the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela (Santiago de Compostela University Hospital, Santiago de Compostela, Spain). The study included 125 patients under 16 years of age who consulted due to alterations in their balance over a period of twelve years (1996 to 2007); they are distributed into three groups based on age: 0 to 5, 6 to 10, and 11 to 15 years.


RESULTS
Childhood benign paroxysmal vertigo (64 %) is the most frequent syndrome in our series, with 32.5 % of patients associating common migraine. Together with diagnoses of infantile positional vertigo and psychogenic vertigo, was more frequently found in the 11 to 15 year-old age group (P< .05). Age, gender and the results of the imaging studies (computerized tomography of the brain and magnetic resonance of the head) were not related to the presentation of associated migraine nor to the diagnosis (P>.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Clinical history and the neuro-otological examination are the key elements of the diagnosis of infantile vestibular pathology; it is also important to standardize and group patients by age. Imaging studies only contribute high diagnostic performance in children presenting neurological symptoms, persistent headache or who have sustained head trauma.
Manrique Lipa
Rubén Duilio
RD
Departamento de Otorrinolaringología, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo, Hospital do Meixoeiro, Pontevedra, España. rben03811@hotmail.com
Soto Varela
Andrés
A
Santos Pérez
Sofía
S
Manrique Lipa
Roslyn Kathryn
RK
Lorenzo Lorenzo
Ana Isabel
AI
Labella Caballero
Torcuato
T
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014717:Vertigo / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000503:physiopathology