Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 46 No. 4, 2007.
Professional paper
Vertigo in Neurological Practice
Marina Titlić
Ante Tonkić
Ivana Jukić
Vesna Čapkun
Anka Aleksić-Shihabi
Abstract
Vertigo is a common problem in neurological practice, caused by a number of pathomorphological and pathophysiological substrates. The aim of the study was to assess the incidence of particular causes of vertigo in neurological practice. This prospective study included patients treated for vertigo at neurology outpatient clinic. On statistical analysis, χ2-test, t-test, analysis of variance and post hoc LSD test were used. The mean age was 55.45±14.8 years in male patients and 52.9±15.1 years in female patients. The incidence of vertigo was comparable in the two sexes (t=0.92, p=0.36). The most common cause of vertigo was vertebrobasilar insufficiency and transient ischemic attack of the vertebrobasilar circulation (36.5%), followed by vestibular neuritis (23.5%), stroke (14.8%) and transient ischemic attacks caused by significant carotid artery stenosis (9.6%). Other, more infrequent causes of vertigo in neurology practice were benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, multiple sclerosis, inflammation processes in the middle ear, brain tumors and acoustic neuroma. There was a statistically significant difference in the causes of vertigo according to pathomorphological substrate and patient age (f=3.55; p=0.017). The patients that had suffered a stroke and those with transient ischemic attacks caused by significant carotid artery stenosis were significantly older. Besides established diagnostic methods, associated symptoms, severity, duration and course of vertigo are of great help in the diagnosis of particular causes of vertigo, which should be taken in consideration on assessing the possible causes of vertigo.
Keywords
Cerebrovascular disorders - complications; Vertigo - etiology; Cerebrovascular disorders - diagnosis; Vertigo - physiopathology; Aging - physiology
Hrčak ID:
21183
URI
Publication date:
3.12.2007.
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