Older adults who experience dizziness or light-headedness are 60 percent more likely have a fall, which is one of the leading causes of death and injury for the age group, according to a study.
Researchers reviewed 29 published studies, involving over one lakh participants, and found a “conclusive link between older adults experiencing spells of dizziness and a dramatically elevated risk of falling”.
Dizziness is not just a normal part of ageing and has been confirmed as an independent predicting factor for falls, the researchers from Imperial College London, UK, said.
Common among older adults, aged 65 years and above, dizziness is used to describe sensations such as vertigo, imbalance and disorientation.
In a smaller group of seven studies, the researchers found that elderly people experiencing dizziness were at double the likelihood of falling more than once in the future. The findings are published in the journal Age and Ageing.
“Our study conclusively shows that older people with dizziness are at high risk of experiencing falls,” senior author Toby Ellmers, from the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, said.
Further, the researchers said that even though dizziness is common, it is caused in distinct ways, such as a fall in blood pressure due to standing — referred to as orthostatic hypotension. There are specific treatments and cures, they added.
The authors stressed that dizziness should not be viewed as a ‘normal’ part of ageing.
