Body balance in elderly patients, 12 months after treatment for BPPV.

UNLABELLED Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo is highly prevalent in the elderly population, triggering major changes in body balance. OBJECTIVE To compare the results obtained from static posturography in the elderly before and after otoliths repositioning maneuvers and 12 months after treatment onset. DESIGN longitudinal, descriptive and analytical study. METHOD Elderly patients with clinical diagnosis of BPPV submitted to Balance Rehabilitation Unit static posturography in 10 sensory conditions at three time intervals: before and after the repositioning maneuver and12 months after the treatment RESULTS We studied 23 subjects with a mean age of 68.74 years. Posturography revealed that the stability limit was not significantly different when the three time intervals were compared (p = 0.405). The center of pressure (CoP) showed a significant change in condition 2 (stable surface and closed eyes), because after the repositioning maneuver, the CoP significantly differed vis-à-vis the results before and 12 months after the treatment (p = 0.003). The values of body velocity sway (BVS) were significantly different in six sensory conditions in these three time intervals. CONCLUSION 12 months after the treatment for BPPV, the static posturography showed balance abnormalities similar to those found before treatment.