A demographic study of vertiginous elderly patients was performed. Nine hundred and eighty-four elderly patients over 65-years-old (male 373, female 611) who vis-ited the vertigo clinic in Jichi Medical School Hospital from 1993 to 2003 were studied retrospectively, and were compared with 3546 (male 1512, female 2004) patients less than 65-years-old during the same period.
The ratio of elderly patients increased gradually, and reached about 30%. Among them, those in their seventies increased remarkably. The male-to-female ratio was 1 : 1.6. Peripheral vestibular disorders and central disorders accounted for 60.7% and 18.9%, respectively. Compared with patients less than 65 years, the former number was almost the same, while the latter one was approximately doubled. In peripheral vestibular disorders, elderly patients had significantly more benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) while the ratios of patients with Meniere's disease and vestibular neuronitis were the same as those of the younger group. In central disorders, elderly patients had more cerebro-vascular disorders. The ratio of peripheral vestibular disorders without definite diagnosis increased every year.