Müller KJ, Becker-Bense S, Strobl R, Grill E, Dieterich M. Chronic vestibular syndromes in the elderly: Presbyvestibulopathy - an isolated clinical entity?
Eur J Neurol 2022;
29:1825-1835. [PMID:
35239246 DOI:
10.1111/ene.15308]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2021] [Revised: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Recently, the Classification Committee of the Bárány Society defined the new syndrome of "presbyvestibulopathy" for elderly patients with chronic vestibular symptoms due to a mild bilateral peripheral vestibular hypofunction. However, control of stance and gait requires multiple functioning systems, e.g. the somatosensory, visual, auditory, musculoskeletal and cardio- and cerebrovascular system. The aim of this cross-sectional database-driven study was to evaluate the frequency and characteristics of presbyvestibulopathy and additional gait relevant comorbidities.
METHODS
In total 707 patients ≥ 60 years with chronic vertigo/dizziness were admitted to our tertiary hospital and received detailed neurological, neuroorthoptic and laboratory audio-vestibular examination. Medical history, comorbidities, functional impairment and quality of life (DHI, EQ-5D-3L, VAP) were compared between presbyvestibulopathy and bilateral vestibulopathy in a matched-paired study.
RESULTS
In 95.5% of patients, complaints were better accounted for by another vestibular, neurological, cardiac or psychiatric disease and 32 patients (4.5%) met the diagnostic criteria for presbyvestibulopathy. Out of these 32 patients, the majority showed further relevant comorbidities in other sensorimotor systems. Only one patient out of 707 had "isolated" presbyvestibulopathy (0.14%). The mean total DHI scores indicated lower moderate impairment in presbyvestibulopathy than in bilateral vestibulopathy (40.6 vs. 49.0), which was confirmed by significant differences in the matched-paired analysis (p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
Isolated presbyvestibulopathy is a very rare entity. It is regularly accompanied by other multisensory dysfunctions. These results indicate a potential role of mild vestibular hypofunction as a co-factor in multifactorial impairment. Thus, patients should be treated in an interdisciplinary setting aware of diverse comorbidities.
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