The Causes of Dizziness in Parkinson’s Disease

Patients with Parkinson’s disease complain dizziness frequently. Postural hypotension and postural instablity are suggested to be the reasons of dizziness in elderly people with Parkinson’s disease. The aim of this prospective surveillance study was to characterize the etiology of the dizziness in patients with PD. A total of 47 consecutive patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease were enrolled in the prospective surveillance study. Of the 47 patients, 32 (68.1%) had dizziness. All patients underwent neurological and otologic examination. Complete blood count, serum electrolytes, glucose, liver function tests, renal function tests and thyroid function tests, cranial computerized tomography, direct cervical region radiography and vertebral artery doppler ultrasonography were obtained from all patients. Patients were screened for blood pressure changes, drug use, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. The findings of loss of disk height, with subsequent loss of cervical lordosis were higher in patients with dizziness (p = 0.01). The results of this study show that cervical-vertebral degeneration may be a common cause of dizziness in Parkinson’s disease patients.