Why Are Children Dizzy?

Vertigo presentations in adults are nearly always benign – with cerebral ischemia generally the most worrisome diagnosis in the differential. But, what about children? With a much lower risk for stroke, but also spared the other decay and decrepitude of aging, ought we be more or less concerned?

The short answer: mostly no. However, the etiologies of pediatric vertigo are almost certainly different.

In this short systematic review comprised of 24 studies and 2,726 children, the vast majority of cases resulted from generally benign etiologies. The most common diagnosis was ascribed to “vestibular migraine”, at about a quarter of the cases, followed by a smattering of peripheral vertigo and labyrinthitis-spectrum disorders. Not until diagnostic prevalence approached ~1% of cases did the most serious underlying etiologies begin to manifest, with central nervous system tumors, demyleninating disease, and ototoxic medication effects at the top of the lists of infrequent findings.

The limitations of this analysis include lack of generalizability to the Emergency Department, as several of the included articles are drawn from outpatient subspecialty case series review. A reasonable takeaway from these data, at least, as in adults, is serious underlying etiologies are very infrequently, and isolated vertigo need not be particularly worrisome absent other important neurologic findings.

“The Differential Diagnosis of Vertigo in Children: A Systematic Review of 2726 Cases”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29095392