Clinical Characteristics of Dizziness after Motor Vehicle Accident

Background and Objectives Diagnosis and treatment of dizziness after motor vehicle accident (MVA) is not challenging. Psychological factors may be important and patient’s quality of life can be underestimated due to nonspecific vague symptoms. The aim of this study is to reveal the clinical characteristics of dizziness after motor vehicle accident. Subjects and Method Of the patients who have visited Dankook University hospital for traumatic dizziness from Jan. 1994 through Jan. 2008, we enrolled 51 patients who had history of motor vehicle accident and performed vestibular function test (VFT). Patients were divided into groups according to VFT findings. Patients who had unilateral hypo-function in VFT were classified as Group A. Patients who showed typical nystagmus for benign paroxismal positional vertigo (BPPV) were classified as Group B. And the others were classified as Group C who showed fair VFT results. Results Group C was found with unidentified dizziness, a tendency of late onset and long term recovery. Also they complained different distributions of their symptoms, that is, the rate of patients with headache and visual symptoms were higher in Group C. Conclusion There were no remarkable characteristics in unidentified dizziness after MVA. Although the objective test results were non-specific, their clinical progress was not favorable. They complained of headache and visual symptoms more than other groups.