Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the contribution of vestibular pathology to cognitive and affective complaints of patients with and without brain trauma.
Setting: An outpatient balance disorders clinic within a tertiary care neuroscience institute.
Participants: 200 patients with dizziness-half with a recent history of brain trauma and half without.
Main Outcome Measures: The Dizziness Handicap Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory were prospectively administered. Neurological examination and vestibular testing were performed to arrive at a diagnosis for the dizziness. Multiple regression analyses were carried out using vestibular diagnosis, psychiatric diagnosis, and trauma history as predictors of the inventory scores.
Results: Perceived disability was higher in dizzy patients with a history of brain trauma compared with dizzy patients without a history of trauma. A diagnosis of vestibular disease had no influence on perceived disability. Similarly, cognitive complaints were more common in dizzy patients with a history of brain trauma compared to dizzy patients without a history of trauma, but a diagnosis of vestibular disease had no influence on the frequency of cognitive complaints.
Conclusions: In patients with postconcussive dizziness, cognitive complaints are likely due to neurologic injury or affective disturbance. In dizzy patients without brain trauma, cognitive complaints are likely due to concurrent affective disturbance.