Dizziness a Serious, Persistent Issue for Older Adults

A study from Amsterdam University Medical Centers in the Annals of Family Medicine details how dizziness in older adults in a primary care setting can inform decision-making by physicians, reports HCPLive . Distinct dizziness subtypes had a higher mortality risk while others correlated with varying severity of dizziness-related impairment. Researchers identified 417 beneficiaries 65 or older with dizziness that persisted for at least two weeks between June 2006 through 2008. Presyncope was the most common dizziness subtype, followed by vertigo, disequilibrium, and other dizziness. Fifty-two percent of subjects had one subtype, 32.9 percent had two, and 11.2 percent had three, with cardiovascular disease and peripheral vestibular disease the most common causes. Vertigo was linked to a lower 10-year mortality risk compared to persons with other subtypes, while dizziness from peripheral vestibular disease also was associated with a reduced risk of mortality versus dizziness from cardiovascular disease. At the 10-year follow-up's conclusion, 47.7 percent of the cohort had experienced significant dizziness-related impairment, and 26 percent suffered substantial dizziness-related impairment at every measurement. "Substantial dizziness-related impairment in older patients with dizziness 10 years later is high, and indicates that current treatment strategies by family physicians may be suboptimal," the researchers noted.