ABSTRACT
Objective To clarify the distribution of etiological factors in elderly versus non-elderly outpatients with vertigo/dizziness for optimizing the diagnosis and therapy. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data of outpatients with vertigo/dizziness in Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital from April 2015 to April 2017 and conducted diagnoses in accordance with the currently wide-accepted diagnostic criteria. Results A total of 3 356 patients with chief complains of vertigo/dizziness were recruited ,and their top seven etiological factors were benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (n＝ 1 320 ,39.3%) ,chronic subjective dizziness(n＝680 ,20.3%) ,vestibular migraine(n＝386 ,11.5%) ,posterior circulation ischemia (n＝213 ,6.4%) ,Meniere's disease (n ＝ 138 ,4.1%) ,vestibular neuritis (n＝ 121 ,3.6%) ,and vestibular paroxysmia(n＝76 ,2.3%). The top four etiological factors for the elderly patients (n＝1 255)were benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (n＝ 498 ,39.7%) ,chronic subjective dizziness (n＝ 279 ,22.2%) ,posterior circulation ischemia(n＝161 ,12.8%) ,and vestibular migraine(n＝73 ,5.8%) ;while the top four etiological factors for non-elderly patients (n＝ 2 101)were benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (n＝ 822 ,39.1%) , chronic subjective dizziness(n＝401 ,19.1%) ,vestibular migraine(n＝313 ,14.9%) ,and vestibular neuritis(n＝105 ,5.0%). The detection rate in elderly patients versus non-elderly patients was significantly higher in chronic subjective dizziness (22.2% vs.19.1%,P＝ 0.032 )and in posterior circulation ischemia (12.8%vs.2.5%,P＝0.000) ,and was significantly lower in vestibular neuritis (1.3% vs.5.0%,P＝ 0.000 ) ,in vestibular migraine(5.8% vs.19.4%,P ＝ 0.000)and in other causes (1.0% vs.2.7%,P ＝ 0.002) . Conclusions The ratio of posterior circulation ischemia is markedly higher in elderly outpatients than in non-elderly outpatients ,whereas the ratios of vestibular migraine and vestibular neuritis in elderly patients are lower than in non-elderly outpatients.