Abstract
Nystagmus is an important clinical finding in patients with neurologic and neuro-otologic diseases. However, the clinical significance of nystagmus has not yet been well evaluated in psychiatric patients with functional/organic brain dysfunction. In the present study, we performed gaze, positional and positioning nystagmus tests in 144 patients with psychiatric diseases (101 men; 61.0±13.0 years) in order to evaluate the frequency and characteristics of nystagmus in these patients. Patients were classified according to the underlying diseases. Nystagmus was seen in 41 (28.5%) out of the 144 cases. Nystagmus was seen in 15 (62.5%) of the 24 cases of alcoholism, 9 (27.3%) of the 33 with organic psychiatric disorders, 16 (20.5%) of the 78 with schizophrenia, 1 (25.0%) out of the 4 with mental retardation, 0 (0.0%) out of the 4 with mood disorders, and 0 (0.0%) out of the 1 with anxiety disorders. These results suggest that nystagmus may be a very important clinical finding not only in patients with neurologic and neuro-otologic diseases, but also in patients with psychiatric diseases.
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