Abstract
Cognitive and emotional factors may affect balance; psychiatric conditions are a common component in patient dizziness. The treatment of patients with vertigo may be affected to a greater degree by the suffering due to this disease than by the severity of organic changes. ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate associations between vestibular test results and self-reported psychological complaints in patients evaluated during 2009 in an audiology unit at a hospital in Porto Alegre. MethodsWe conducted a retrospective, descriptive-exploratory study of data taken from a database of the software VecWin® and VecWin® 2, developed by Neurograff®. We investigated vestibular test results, reports of psychological symptoms reported spontaneously, and information such as age, sex and the presence of vertigo and/or dizziness. This study consisted of three steps: clustering, exclusion/inclusion and quantification. ConclusionAge and gender and the presence or absence of vertigo and/or dizziness were not variables that influenced the outcomes of vestibular testing. There was a significant association between the presence of self-reported psychological complaints and normal vestibular test results. Thus, it is crucial that professionals pay attention to psychological issues reported by patients when the vestibular history is taken.
Highlights
Otoneurology is the study of the auditory and vestibular systems and their relationship with the central nervous system (CNS)[1]
Paper submitted to the BJORL-SGP (Publishing Management System – Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology) on February 13, 2011; and accepted on August 16, 2011. cod. 7574
The complaint dizziness/vertigo was reported by 93.8% of the study sample; only 12.5% of subjects spontaneously reported psychological complaints
Summary
Otoneurology is the study of the auditory and vestibular systems and their relationship with the central nervous system (CNS)[1]. Computed vectoelectronystagmography (VENG) is a step in vestibulometry; it is a method for recording ocular movements that are directly or indirectly related with vestibular function[2]. VENG establishes the direction of nystagmus and calculates the velocity of its slow component, a fundamental parameter for assessing the function of the labyrinth[2]. Vestibular disorders significantly hamper individuals; they may require assistance for even the simplest tasks that previously were part of their normal lives[3]. Vestibular disorders include peripheral vestibular diseases (comprising diseases of the inner ear and/or the vestibular branch of the eight cranial nerve) and central vestibular diseases (involving structures, nuclei, pathways, and vestibular interrelationships within the central nervous system)[4]
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