Psychiatric comorbidity in patients with dizziness

Abstract

We classified psychogenic dizziness into 3 types, such as the narrow type, the wide type and psychiatric comorbidity. Among these, 69.1% (362/524) of our patients with dizziness were diagnosed as having psychiatric comorbidity, and independently in a German facility, similar number of 68.3% (129/189) of patients with dizziness were diagnosed as having psychiatric comorbidity. Therefore, in our hospital, psychological tests are routinely performed on our patients with dizziness. Patients with dizziness of unknown cause (DUC), otogenic vertigo (OV) and Meniere's disease (MD) exhibited a higher prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity (DUC = 73.6%, OV = 69.5%, MD = 70.1%). Of patients with dizziness and psychiatric comorbidity, various types of psychiatric disorders were found, such as anxiety or panic disorders (F41), mood disorders (F3), adjustment disorders or posttraumatic stress disorders (F43), dissociative disorders (F44), other neurotic disorders, organic mental disorders (FO) and schizophrenia (F2). These patients suffering from dizziness were not only treated by otolaryngologists, but also received psychiatric therapy, and 72.9% of these patients were prescribed psychotropic drugs in our hospital. We believe that psychotropic drugs should be prescribed according to the advice given from psychiatrists or the doctors who are familiar with these drugs. Patients with depression often complain of somatic symptoms. In clinical practice 90% of these patients with depression are in general examined by physicians (non-expert psychiatrists) for their primary medical examination. However, it is not easy to distinguish patients with depression from those with bipolar disorder. Recently, serotonin selective re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI) have been prescribed more frequently by physicians, but caution should be exercised in the treatment of patients with depression when physicians prescribe SSRI because these patients may have bipolarity or mild manic symptoms. To reduce the risk of these incidents of misdiagnosis, physicians are strongly encouraged to consider referring these patients with psychiatric disorders to psychiatrists. We believe that collaboration between psychiatrists and physicians in the hospital and/or local doctors can improve the mental condition and the quality of life (QOL) of patients who are suffering from dizziness with psychiatric comorbidity.