Clinical Characteristics of Pediatric Dizziness / 대한평형의학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pediatric dizziness is difficult to diagnose because of the nonspecific nature of symptom, and difficulty in history taking, physical examination or diagnostic tests. The authors tried to analyze the proportion of diseases in children suffering from dizziness, and introduce cases with atypical clinical characteristics and uncommon diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 53 pediatric patients suffering from dizziness were analyzed retrospectively. We analyzed the findings of history taking, physical examination for nystagmus and cerebellar function, pure tone audiogram and caloric tests in all patients. RESULTS: Diagnosis of migrainous vertigo was most common (32.7%), followed by psychological cause (11.5%) and labyrinthitis due to the otitis media (7.7%). Cases of cerebellar hemangioblastoma, neurofibromatosis and drug intoxication were also found. CONCLUSION: The clinical characteristics and causative diseases of pediatric dizziness are different from those of adults. Appropriate history taking and diagnostic tests are improtant for differential diagnosis.