Effect of sleep position on lateral-predominance in posterior semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo in the elderly patients / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the frequency of posterior semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (PC-BPPV) in each ear,and to explore the effect of sleep position in lateral-predominance of ear by PC-BPPV during sleep onset in elderly patients. Methods Totally 114 patients aged (67.4±7.5) years with unilateral PC BPPV confirmed by a positive Dix Hallpike test,were retrospectively reviewed.All patients included in the study were able to define a leteral predominant,favorate head-lying side (right,left or supine position) during sleep onset. Results The Dix Hallpike test was found to be positive on the right side in 72 patients and positive on the left side in 42 cases.During sleep onset,61 patients habitually laid their head on the right side,34 laid their head on the left,and the remaining 19 cases on the supine position.Among 114 cases with positive Dix Hallpike test,there were 78 cases with the same side between affected ear and sleep position (52 cases right,26 cases left),36 cases with different side (9 cases with right position and left positive Dix Hallpike test,8 cases left position and right positive Dix Hallpike test,19 cases slept in a supine position including 12 cases with right positive Dix Hallpike test and 7 cases with left positive).The association between affected ear and head-lying side during sleep onset was statistically significant (x2 =35.737,P＜0.01) and Pearson coefficient of continency was 0.4885. Conclusions Among the elderly,right-sided PC-BPPV is popular,and these patients favorite right head-lying position during sleep.There is association between the affected side by PC-BPPV and the head-lying side during sleep.