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. 2022 Jul;35(4):580-585.
doi: 10.1177/08919887211036185. Epub 2021 Aug 2.

Age-Associated Characteristics of Patients With Chronic Dizziness and Vertigo

Alexander Wassermann  1 , Sigrid Finn  1 , Hubertus Axer  1
Affiliations

Age-Associated Characteristics of Patients With Chronic Dizziness and Vertigo

Alexander Wassermann et al. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: age-specific characteristics; dizziness; older age; vertigo.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Age distribution of patients with chronic dizziness/vertigo.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Medical diagnoses. A, Histograms of diagnoses in the age groups. B, PPPD and VM were primarily diagnosed in the younger age groups. C, MultD, CV, BV, and BPPV were found increasingly over the age groups. D, MM and VN most often occurred in the middle age group. BPPV indicates benign paroxysmal positional vertigo; MM, Meniere’s disease; VN, vestibular neuritis; BV, bilateral vestibulopathy; VS, vestibular schwannoma; VP, vestibular paroxysmia; CV, central vertigo; VM, vestibular migraine; MultD, multisensory deficit; PPPD, persistent postural–perceptual dizziness; sync, syncope; MDS, mal de débarquement syndrome.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
DHI scores. Mean ± SD is shown beside each boxplot.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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