Vestibular Syndromes in Childhood and Adolescence

Abstract

Introduction The prevalence of vestibular disorders in childhood ranges from 0.4% to 15%; they may be the result of several factors, but most of the time it's an episodic vestibular syndrome related to migraine equivalents. Objective To evaluate the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of children with vestibular signs and symptoms. Methods The present cross-sectional study evaluated data from the records of patients treated in an outpatient pediatric neurotology clinic over a 10-year period. These data included sociodemographic and clinical variables, results of complementary examinations, the treatment provided, and the clinical evolution. Results The sample was composed of 117 patients, with 54.7% of female subjects with a mean age of 10 years. The most prevalent diagnosis was benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood (BPVC) (41.9%), followed by vestibular migraine (16.2%). The most prevalent complaint was vertigo (53.9% of the cases). Most patients (66.7%) had inadequate eating habits. Improvement of symptoms was observed in 40.4% of the patients treated with dietary guidance alone. In 80% of the cases, dietary counseling in combination with vestibular rehabilitation therapy achieved therapeutic success without the need of a drug treatment. Conclusion The predominant diagnosis was of BPVC, and its close relationship with the personal and family history of migraine, its benign evolution, and the importance of dietary guidance and vestibular rehabilitation for therapeutic success were observed.

Prevalence of Pediatric and Adolescent Balance Disorders: Analysis of a Mono-Institutional Series of 472 Patients

“…Vertigo is not an infrequent condition in the pediatric age and, although there is wide variability in published prevalence data, approaches nearly 10% in most clinical trials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. As in adults, control of standing position and harmonic movements in children depend on the integration of many sensory activities (vestibular, visual, proprioceptive, hemodynamic, and cognitive).…”

“…Vertigo in a pediatric age is not an infrequent condition, with about a 10% prevalence in most clinical trials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The causes, as for adults, can be highly variable, especially when related to functional, visual, vestibular, or proprioceptive somesthetic system dysfunction, or to syndromic/not-syndromic genetic/hereditary type diseases associated with atypical neural development [14].…”

Vertigo and Dizziness in Children: An Update

“…A total of 1094 papers were identified in the search. Of the papers initially selected, 7 met the inclusion criteria [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. This review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.…”

Evaluation and management of paediatric vertigo

“…Vestibular migraine and early childhood migraine variants are consistently the most common causes of paediatric dizziness, with vestibular migraine typically presenting in adolescence and recurrent vertigo of childhood (RVC) in younger children [1 ▪ ,3,5 ▪ ,6,11 ▪▪ ]. Paediatric vestibular migraine has recently been reclassified as vestibular migraine of childhood (VMC), probable vestibular migraine of childhood (VMC) and RVC [11 ▪▪ ].…”