Vertigo syndromes associated with earthquake in Georgia

Georgia experienced strong earthquake, after this event the amount of patients with vestibular symptoms increased. Study evaluates 60 outpatients (51 females, 9 males) aged from 18 to 85 years old who applied at outpatient clinics with vestibular complaints in the initial weeks following the earthquake. BPPV and PPV are the most common causes of vertigo. "Idiopathic" BPPV is the cause of BPPV in 50-70% of cases. Head trauma, vestibular neuritis, Meniere disease, migraine are the most common causes of "secondary" BPPV. (PPV) syndrome characterized by dizziness, subjective disturbance of balance and by perception of illusory body perturbations, usually triggered by perceptual stimulus. PPV frequently associated with anxiety symptoms in patients with obsessive-compulsive type personality. The study revealed "Idiopathic" BPPV in 49 cases and "secondary" types BPPV in 11 cases. 37 previously documented histories of BPPV patients had features typical for posterior semisercircular canal BPPV and 23 patients experienced subjective disturbance symptoms like BPPV, but there were no abnormal responses in their vestibular testing. It is assumed that earthquake could manifest psychogenic vertigo with panic attacks, anxiety, agoraphobia, PPV and could provoke a transition from organic vertigo to PPV. It is concluded that psychological stress play an important role in occurring "secondary" BPPV, earthquake may trigger exacerbation of "secondary" BPPV and could be provoked factor to developing psychogenic vertigo, mostly PPV.