Otoneurologic Evaluation of Patients with Dizziness and Asystemic Arterial Hypertension

Introduction: Systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) is one of the most circulatory ailments that can present as secondary complaints, hearing impairments and otoneurologic manifestations.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between systemic hypertension and the results obtained in otoneurological evaluation in patients with dizziness.

Methods: It was evaluated 41 patients with hypertension, of which 16 were men and 25 were women, aged between 27 and 87 years with a mean age of 74.4 years old, in the otoneurology sector from a public hospital at the Federal University of Santa Maria. All the patients underwent to a otoneurological evaluation, which it was considered only the results of the caloric test of vector electronystagmography.

Results: In this study, 78% of patients complained of dizziness, 9.8% had dizziness and imbalance associated, 7.3% complained of labyrinthitis, and 4.9% complained of imbalance. In total, 39% of patients had alteration in the diagnosis of vestibular testing (22%—deficitary peripheral vestibular dysfunction and 17%—vestibular disorder) and 61% had vestibular testing within of normal limits.

Conclusion: Although few cases presented vestibular alteration in the testing, they make up a significant sample which should be taken into consideration because it confirms the existence of the relationship between otoneurologic complaints with systemic disorder (SAH). Thus, it is suggested that all the professionals who work in the health area seek harder the relationship between systemic and otoneurologic complaints, with possible alteration.

Keywords: hypertension, vestibule, labyrinth, dizziness.