Antidepressants and dizziness

Objective: To assess the clinical therapeutic significance of sleep disrupt ion and admitted depression in patients with nonspecific dizziness. Design: Retrospective database review. Setting: Large tertiary care clinical practice. Method: Answers to questions about sleep disruption and depression from 137 patients who met inclusion criteria for nonspecific dizziness and a compar ison group of 39 patients were contrasted. The Pearson chi-square test was used to determine the statistical significance of the results. Main Outcome Measure: Six weeks after beginning antidepressant therapy, pat ients were asked if their symptoms improved significantly. Results: Patients with nonspecific dizziness reported more sleep disruption and admitted to depression more frequently than the comparison group. Pers ons with sleep disruption were more likely to respond to antidepressant the rapy than those without sleep disruption. Conclusions: (1) Sleep disruption is common in persons with nonspecific diz ziness. (2) Nonspecific dizziness may respond to antidepressant therapy, pa rticularly in patients who report sleep disruption and/or depression.