Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Dizziness after Motor Vehicle Accident

The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical characteristics of dizziness occurring after a motor vehicle accident.

We retrospectively analyzed 217 patients who had visited a tertiary medical center complaining of dizziness after a motor vehicle accident between January 2009 and December 2014. Of the 217 patients, we enrolled 54 patients who had undergone a vestibular function test and had no definite evidence of fracture of the temporal bone or intracranial lesions. Patients were divided into two groups: the dizziness group (group A, 29 patients) and the dizziness with audiological symptoms (hearing disturbance, tinnitus, ear fullness) group (group B, 25 patients).

The prevalence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo was higher in group A. Apart from this finding, the clinical features did not differ significantly between the two groups. Group B had a higher number of patients who exhibited asymmetric hearing on pure tone audiometry, but the difference was not statistically significant.

There were no notable characteristics in patients with dizziness after motor vehicle accidents, although patients without hearing symptoms tended to have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, whereas other patients tended to have hearing disturbance. This information may be helpful for clinicians in counseling and managing patients with dizziness and audiological symptoms after motor vehicle accidents.