Impact of dizziness on the life quality of elderly with chronic vestibulopathy.

Background: Dizziness impact on the quality of life (QoL) of elderly patients with chronic vestibular dysfunction.

Aim: To evaluate the association between the impact of dizziness on the QoL of elderly patients with chronic vestibular dysfunction and demographic and clinical variables.

Method: A prospective study. A hundred and twenty elderly patients with chronic vestibular dysfunction underwent the Brazilian version of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI). In order to verify the association between the QoL and the demographic and clinical variables, the following testes were used: Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman's correlation coefficient.

Results: There were significant associations between the presence of rotating and non-rotating dizziness with the total score of the DHI (p = 0.010) and physical (p = 0.049) and functional (p = 0.009) subscales; between recurrent falls with total DHI (p = 0.004) and physical (p = 0.045), functional (p = 0.010) and emotional (p = 0.011) subscales. Significant correlations were found between functional incapacity and total DHI (r = + 0.557; p < 0.001) and physical (r = + 0.326; p < 0.001), functional (r = + 0.570; p < 0.001) and emotional (r = + 0.521; p < 0.001) subscales.

Conclusions: The impact of dizziness on the QoL is higher in elderly patients with rotating and non-rotating dizziness, recurrent falls and functional incapacity.