Vertigo and Dizziness in Children

It is unusual for a child or adolescent patient to complain of vertigo. However, in adults it is more commonly seen. Research conducted using a survey methodology has found a yearly incidence of 23% for dizziness in general and 5% for vestibular vertigo, in particular [1]. A study which recently assessed the frequency of diagnoses coded using ICD-9 and relating to problems with balance and the vestibular apparatus considered records from more than 560,000 consultations with paediatricians stretching over 4 years. These showed that unspecified dizziness occurred in a mere 0.4%, peripheral symptoms in 0.03% and central vestibulopathy in 0.02% of encounters [2, 3].