INTRODUCTION
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is a peripheral vestibular disorder presenting with momentary periods of vertigo on changes of position of the sufferer’s head. It is the commonest cause of peripheral vertigo, with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 2.4%.1 BPPV is also one of the most treatable causes of vertigo, with the mainstay of treatment being repositioning movements.2
Previous research has shown that BPPV is more common in certain demographics. In particular, BPPV tends to be not only more common in older age groups, but also elderly tend to have more episodes of BPPV.3 Although BPPV is often easily treatable, some patients suffer from persistent BPPV which is refractory to repositioning manoeuvres.4 Patients can also have recurrence of BPPV, with some studies finding up to 26% patients will have a recurrence of their BPPV after initially successful repositioning movements. Overall, given its high prevalence, BPPV can significantly affect, at least temporarily, the performance status and the quality of life of the affected individuals and can present significant burden to every health system.
Considering how common BPPV is, there are mostly sporadic systematic efforts to investigate the reasons behind recurrences as well as persistent BPPV. Indeed, there are few studies which have attempted to look for socioeconomic risk factors for BPPV, and even fewer which look specifically at persistence and recurrence of BPPV.
The aims of our study were :
To identify any relationships between patient variables with persistent or recurrent vertigo.
To identify determine any statistically significant relationship between socioeconomic circumstances and rates of recurrent or persistent BPPV.