Relationship Between Vertigo and Consumption of Psychotropic Drugs: A Prospective Case–Control Study

TL;DR

This study found that people with vertigo are more likely to use psychotropic drugs than those without vertigo, suggesting a link between vertigo and psychological distress.

Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence of increased psychotropic drug use in vertigo patients compared to controls using a case–control design.

Findings

Vertigo patients had a 41.3% psychotropic drug use rate, significantly higher than the 26.9% in controls.

The mean number of psychotropic drugs used was higher in vertigo patients than in controls.

Anxiolytics, hypnotics, and antidepressants were the most commonly used drug classes among vertigo patients.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The association between vestibular symptoms and psychological distress has been previously studied, mainly with the use of questionnaires. The purpose of this study is to compare the consumption of psychotropic drugs between a group of patients with vertigo and a control group. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional, observational, case–control study was carried out, including 506 patients (232 with Ménière’s disease, 79 with vestibular migraine, 34 with vestibular neuritis, and 161 with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). In total, 253 participants were included in the control group. Both groups were comparable regarding age, sex, and history of previous psychiatric diseases. Results: The percentage of patients with vertigo who consumed psychotropic drugs (41.3%) was higher than the percentage of the control group who did so (26.9%) (Fisher’s exact test, p < 0.0001; OR = 1.914, CI95% (1.377; 2.662)). The mean number of psychotropic drugs consumed was also higher (Mann–Whitney test, p = 0.0003) in cases (0.68 ± 0.959) than in controls (0.47 ± 0.889). This higher consumption in the group of patients with vertigo was found for all pharmacological groups studied, being especially relevant regarding “anxiolytics and hypnotics and sedatives” and “antidepressants”. No statistically significant differences in the consumption of psychotropic drugs between types of vestibular disorders were observed. The longer the symptoms were present, the higher the prevalence of psychotropic drug use was observed. Conclusions: A relationship between vertigo and consumption of psychotropic drugs was found. Recording the consumption of these drugs is proposed as an objective method to better understand the psychological distress that patients with vertigo may suffer from.

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