Abstract Details

At our dizziness center, we saw a spike of dizziness consults after patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 infections or received COVID-19 vaccinations. The symptoms included dizziness, vertigo, and imbalance. This study aims to examine if the infection, vaccination, or antibodies from such could be the reason for the dizziness complaints or if other factors explain patients’ dizziness.

To explore the underlying reasons of dizziness experienced by patients after having the COVID-19 infections or vaccinations.

Patients were identified using a combination of retrospective chart review to identify patients with diagnoses of dizziness, COVID-19, and COVID-19 vaccinations from our database, coupled with referrals from ongoing clinical consultations who we believed to exhibit dizziness symptoms related to their COVID-19 infections or vaccinations within four weeks of dizziness onset. Patients all had brain MRI and extensive vestibular testing, including: VNG, Rotary Chair, audiograms, and consultation with an experienced neuro-otologist.

Of the 40 patients examined, 20 began experiencing dizziness after testing positive for COVID-19 and 20 reported dizziness after receiving the vaccines. All patients had brain MRI, but no MRI findings indicated inflammatory changes from infections or antibody reactions. Only five of 40 patients had abnormal VNG indications of uncompensated peripheral vestibulopathy which could be related to virus infections or antibody reactions.  Thirty out of 40 patients had histories of anxiety, depression, other mood disorders, or family histories of mood disorders. Based on the clinical history and examinations, along with MRI findings and comprehensive vestibular testing, 75% of the 40 patients had diagnoses of persistent perceptual positional vertigo (PPPV), which was most likely related to patients’ underlying anxiety, depression, or mood disorders.

We believe that the COVID-19 infections or vaccinations may trigger PPPV as stressors, but mostly not due to the virus infections or its antibody reactions.