Relationship between motion sickness and nausea associated with dizziness

Abstract

Patients with dizziness have frequent autonomic nerve symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting. In the present study, I focused on nausea associated with dizziness in patients who were prone to develop motion sickness compared with those lacking any such tendency. Among the patients who visited my department and complained of dizziness during the 5-year period from August 2016, 198 males and 603 females whose medical records mentioned motion sickness and nausea tendencies were included in this study. Thirty-three male patients were prone to develop motion sickness, and 21 of them (63.6%) also had nausea. One hundred and sixty-five male patients were not prone to develop motion sickness, and 92 of them (55.8%) also had nausea. Two hundred and twelve female patients were prone to develop motion sickness, and 161 of them (75.9%) also had nausea. Three hundred and ninety-one female patients were not were prone to develop motion sickness, and 223 of them (57.0%) also had nausea. Although there was no statistically significant difference among males, a significant difference was observed among females. These results show that individuals prone to develop motion sickness developed dizziness more frequently than those without such a tendency. A relationship between motion sickness and dizziness has been suggested. Equilibrium dysfunction is considered to be associated with dizziness and nausea, causing autonomic nerve symptoms to appear via central neural pathways.