Abstract
The clinical features of 131 young patients (age<20 years) who were referred to our clinic for evaluation of balance problems were studied. The average age of the 131 patients was 13.7 years (4-19 years). The patients consisted of 66 males and 65 females. The population of patients increased with age in both males and females. Among the diagnoses were benign recurrent vertigo (BRV) in 15 cases (11%), psychogenic dizziness/vertigo in 14 cases (10%), Meniere's disease in 13 cases (9%), benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) in 10 cases (8%), and orthostatic hypotension in 8 cases (6%). We noticed that BRV was the commonest cause of vertigo among the patients aged 10 years or younger. Some of our patients with BRV complained of aural fullness, tinnitus, nausea/vomiting and photophobia/phonophobia. While BRV is known to be one of the causes of episodic vertigo in children, probably a childhood manifestation of migraine, the lesion sites and pathophysiology of BRV remain unclear. Further study is required.
