Dizziness and prevention of falls in the elderly

Augusto P. Casani; Elena Navari

doi:10.4081/gc.2017.7160

Short Communications

Vol. 3 No. 4 (2017)

https://doi.org/10.4081/gc.2017.7160

Dizziness and prevention of falls in the elderly

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Received: 25 October 2017
Accepted: 9 November 2017

Published: 11 December 2017

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Dizziness, vertigo, elderly, vestibular, falls.

Elderly

Authors

Augusto P. Casani

augusto.casani@unipi.it

Department of Medical and Surgical Pathology, Otorhinolaryngology Unit, Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.

Elena Navari

Department of Medical and Surgical Pathology, Otorhinolaryngology Unit, Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.

Disequilibrium is one of the most common complaints that older adults bring to their physician and falling is a frequent complication; because of the increasing number of elderly patients in western society the problem grows. The increasing susceptibility to falling can be consequence of age-related physiological changes and of a higher prevalence of comorbidities causing dizziness, vertigo and imbalance; these symptoms can worse the already poor balance of old adults increasing the risk of falling. Among the major reasons of vertigo and dizziness, central vertigo and orthostatic vertigo are very common; also vestibular disorders have a great role and are currently thought to account for 48% of dizziness reported by older adults. An early identification of the treatable condition underlying dizziness in elderly would surely ameliorate the outcome of these patients.