Videonystamography Findings in Dizziness Patients with Background Anxiety Disorder

This study was conducted to describe the videonystagmography findings in dizziness patients with background anxiety disorders. It was a hospital-based, descriptive analytical study, conducted among 64 adult patients with diagnosed anxiety disorders presenting with complaint of dizziness attending the vertigo clinic run by the Department of ENT at St. John's Medical College and Hospital, Bangalore, over a period of 24 months. Data was collected from consenting patients using a structured pre-validated proforma, which included history taking, general examination and videonystagmography. Severity of anxiety was assessed using Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A). Data analysis was done using MS Excel and SPSS. (71.9%) of the patients had a psychiatric diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and reported sudden onset of vertigo. Saccade test, smooth pursuit test and optokinetic test; spontaneous nystagmus and gaze nystagmus with fixation,normal for most of the patients. Abnormal gaze nystagmus without fixation affected 23.4% of the patients. Dix-Hallpike test was positive in 36 patients (56.3%). 37.5% of the patients had right peripheral vestibulopathy, while 20.3% had left peripheral vestibulopathy, with statistically significant association between anxiety disorders and VNG impression. Findings of the present study have shown an association between vestibular dysfunction and severity of anxiety in all patients as well as among those patients with rotatory giddiness. It has facilitated an understanding of the clinic-epidemiological aspects of vestibular changes in patients with anxiety disorders the disease helpful in further management.