Understanding The Risks Of Balance Disorders

August 8th, 2010

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The unpleasant feeling of standing up too quickly only to be dizzy is an experience with which most people can relate. For many individuals, such balance disorders are unfortunately experienced all too frequently. While certainly being very uncomfortable, these feelings of dizziness along with the associated balance problems can also be very disruptive to quality of life and an indicator of other health risks.

The human sense of balance is provided by what are called the vestibular organs that are located beneath the skull deeper than our eardrums. Under normal conditions these sensing organs allow us to tell which direction we are leaning and to detect motion. However, numerous medical conditions and medications can mess up the signals sent from these organs to our brains with the result being feelings of dizziness and problems with balance.

As a result, balance disorders are extremely common and in the US, roughly 1 in 3 people over the age of 40 suffer from such issues. In the UK, the Royal College of Physicians estimates that 30 to 40% of people under 60 are affected by problems with their balance. For those over the age of 80, 85% have problems with balance.

However, balance issues are not limited to being an effect of aging. In fact, “significant” balance issues also exist for people in their 20s and 30s according to researchers from the University of Missouri. As well, more than 1 in 14 people have undiagnosed balance problems and are often unaware that their balance is even affected. The result is that problems with balance can affect the lives of individuals from most age groups.

While aging does naturally causes our sense of balance to become worse just the same as it affects our hearing, vision and sense of taste, medical conditions can also affect our balance. Diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, Menier’s Disease and Alzheimer’s are just some of the conditions that can affect our sense of balance. People who have experienced strokes also suffer from problems with balance.

As well, other medical conditions can have an effect on balance because of the effects of medications taken as treatment. Research from the University of British Columbia has determined that pain killers, drugs for reducing blood pressure and drugs for reducing inflammation, among others, all contribute to balance problems. Each of these drugs are taken by taken by tens of millions of people so the result is that many are at risk of being affected by problems with balance.

Now, the obvious effect of balance problems is the increased risks of falling and certainly this is an important part of problem. However, an often-overlooked risk of balance issues is the social isolation that individuals with the condition can face. People with dizziness and balance instability can feel anxious about leaving their homes because of the increased risks of falling and this can lead to feelings of depression. In addition, the tendency to limit one’s motion to suppress symptoms can also result in a very sedentary lifestyle that is well known to contribute to other health effects such as obesity and heart disease.

Of course, the primary risk associated with any problem of balance is the increased risks for falls and injuries from such falls. For those over 40 with balance issues, their risk of falling is as much as 12 times greater than that of the rest of the population according to research from Johns Hopkins University. For those over the age of 80, balance issues make their risk for falls more than 20 times that of people in their 40s.

While there are dramatically increased risks for falling as we age, for those with specific medical conditions the risks are even higher. People with diabetes are 70% more likely to experience balance problems that can lead to falls than the rest of the population. People who have suffered from a stroke have almost twice the risk of falling as other people according to research from the University of Auckland. Those with Parkinson’s Disease are also at increased risk of falls with one study by the Queensland University of Technology finding 48% of mobile individuals with Parkinson’s having experienced a fall.

Falls can result in disability for anyone, but those most likely to be injured by a fall are seniors. In fact, falls are the number one cause of nonfatal and fatal injuries amongst those 65 and older and roughly 40% of all hospital admissions for seniors are because of falls.

Furthermore, studies by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have found that US seniors go to emergency departments 2 million times each year due to injuries resulting from falls at a cost of more than $19 billion dollars per year. In Canada, the annual estimated costs for treating falls was $980 million as of 1998. In the UK, $1.47 billion was spent on treating falls as of 1999. Quite clearly, the dollar costs of balance problems and the falls they cause are very high. With the number of Baby Boomers who are becoming seniors, these costs will only get higher.

Worse than the dollar costs however are the effects on the lives of those seniors who fall. Of those who go to the emergency department, more than 40% have experienced a fracture and of those with a fracture, 50% are hospitalized. For those who suffer a fracture, 41% will end up living in a nursing home or in long term care having lost their ability to live independently. The same is true of the 1 in 3 individuals who experience some form of internal injury resulting from a fall.

Living with balance disorders can be very hard on the quality of life for individuals, but it can also represent an unforeseen risk for those who have poor balance and are unaware of their vulnerability. When balance issues cause more than discomfort from dizziness and result in falls, they can lead to injuries that are especially dangerous amongst the elderly.

A future article will cover some means to prevent the risks of injury from balance disorders. If you or someone close suffers from balance problems, consider sharing your experiences in the health forums.

Related Links

http://www.library.nhs.uk/ENT/ViewResource.aspx?resID=283105

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/Survey_Suggests_Higher_Risk_of_Falls_Due_to_Dizziness_in_MiddleAged_and_Older_Americans_

http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2010/0323-mu-researcher-develops-comprehensive-screening-test-for-falling-risk/

http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2009/11/23/drugs-related-to-falls/

http://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/faculty/newsandevents/news_details.aspx?Id=521

http://www.news.qut.edu.au/cgi-bin/WebObjects/News.woa/wa/goNewsPage?newsEventID=32839

http://iospress.metapress.com/content/e7j17156r941w7l5/fulltext.pdf

http://www.ahrq.gov/news/nn/nn100709.htm

http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/12/5/290.full.pdf

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/seniors-aines/publications/pro/healthy-sante/haging_newvision/vison-rpt/falls-chutes-eng.php#falls3

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3167005.stm