TITLE:
The Causes of Dizziness in Parkinson’s Disease
AUTHORS:
Leyla Çavdar Yilmaz, Tugba Tunç, Levent E. İnan
KEYWORDS:
Parkinson’s Disease, Vertigo, Dizzness
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Clinical Medicine,
Vol.5 No.12,
June
20,
2014
ABSTRACT: Patients with Parkinson’s
disease complain dizziness frequently. Postural hypotension and postural
instablity are suggested to be the reasons of dizziness in elderly people with
Parkinson’s disease. The aim of this prospective surveillance study was to
characterize the etiology of the dizziness in patients with PD. A total of 47
consecutive patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease were enrolled in the
prospective surveillance study. Of the 47 patients, 32 (68.1%) had dizziness.
All patients underwent neurological and otologic examination. Complete blood
count, serum electrolytes, glucose, liver function tests, renal function
tests and thyroid function tests, cranial computerized tomography, direct
cervical region radiography and vertebral artery doppler ultrasonography were
obtained from all patients. Patients were screened for blood pressure changes,
drug use, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. The
findings of loss of disk height, with subsequent loss of cervical lordosis
were higher in patients with dizziness (p = 0.01). The results of this study
show that cervical-vertebral degeneration may be a common cause of
dizziness in Parkinson’s disease patients.