Vestibular Disturbances Among the Elderly

It is well known that the incidence of falls among older individuals is much higher than among younger people. Kiernat (1979) found that the frequency of falls was greatest in the 70 to 85-year-old age group, but the most serious falls occurred in those who were older than 85 years of age. Sheldon (1960) revealed that of all falls in the home, about 45 percent were accidental or related to tripping. The remaining 55 percent of falls were attributed to medical and/or neurologic causes. It has been suggested that 75 percent of women older than 85 years of age experience some kind of dizziness (Steele and Crowe, 1970). It is logical that this should hold true for men as well, except that more men expire before the age 80 years and are, therefore, not available for such comparisons. The loss of equilibrium among elderly individuals has been termed by Krompotic-Nemanic (1969) as "presbystasis." It appears that the handicap experienced by an individual presenting presbystasis is dependent upon (1) the type and extent of physiologic damage or atrophy occurring within the visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular systems, other ongoing systemic disturbances, and (2) the psychologic reaction to the dysequilibriatory experience.