title: Vertigo and dizziness in children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Vertigo and dizziness occur with considerable frequency in childhood and adolescence. Most causes are benign and treatable. This review aims to make physicians more alert to the frequent causes of dizziness in the young.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Epidemiological data confirm that migraine-related syndromes are the most common cause of vertigo in children. Vestibular migraine and benign paroxysmal vertigo have now been defined by the International Classification of Headache Disorders. About half of the adolescents with vertigo and dizziness show psychiatric comorbidity and somatization. Vestibular paroxysmia has been described as a new entity in children that can be treated with low doses of carbamazepine. To assess vestibular deficits, video head impulses (for the semicircular canals) and vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (for the otoliths) are increasingly being used.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pediatricians and neuro-otologists should be aware of the full spectrum of causes of vertigo and dizziness in children and adolescents. Vestibular function can reliably be tested nowadays. Although treatment for the common migraine-related syndromes can be done in analogy to the treatment of migraine in general, specific approaches are required for somatoform vertigo, the most frequent diagnosis in adolescent girls.
authors.affiliation: aGerman Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders (DSGZ) bDepartment of Neurology cDepartment of Paediatric Neurology and Developmental Medicine - Dr von Hauner Children's Hospital, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jahn
authors.forename: Thyra
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Langhagen
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Heinen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004244:Dizziness / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014717:Vertigo / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology