Prevalence of vestibular complaints in psychiatric patients of mental health centers in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre

Purpose To identify the prevalence of vestibular complaints in the psychiatric population of a mental health center in a city of the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre. Methods The data were collected in the institution by a questionnaire, which contained a brief anamnesis and the “Dizziness Handicap Inventory - Brazilian Version”. Results The major part of the sample was composed by young adults (55.9%) and female (76.5%). The presence of dizziness at some period of day (always or sometimes) affects 67.7% of the subjects interviewed. Most of them use psychiatric pharmaceuticals (94.1%). Conclusion It was possible to conclude that there is a high prevalence of dizziness in the researched psychiatric population, the major impact being in subjects who use bipolar and mania pharmacal and subjects diagnosed with depressive disorder. As to association between vestibular complaints and psychiatric disorders, a significant association between dizziness and depressive disorders (p=0.033) and the absence of dizziness complaints and depressive episodes (p=0.031) was found.