Presbyvestibulopathy: criterios diagnósticos. Documento de consenso del Comité de Clasificación de la Bárány Society

This paper describes the diagnostic criteria for presbyvestibulopathy (PVP) of the Classification Committee of the Bárány Society. PVP is defined as a chronic vestibular syndrome characterized by unsteadiness, gait disturbance, and/or recurrent falls in the presence of mild bilateral vestibular deficits, with findings on laboratory tests that are between normal values and the thresholds established for bilateral vestibulopathy. The diagnosis of PVP is based on patient history, bedside examination, and laboratory evaluation. The diagnosis of PVP requires bilaterally reduced function of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). This can be diagnosed for the high frequency range of the VOR with video-HIT (vHIT), for the middle frequency range with rotary chair testing, and for the low frequency range with caloric testing. For the diagnosis of PVP, the horizontal angular VOR gain on both sides should be < .8 and > .6, and/or the sum of the maximal peak velocities of the slow phase caloric-induced nystagmus for stimulation with warm and cold water on each side should be < 25°/s and > 6°/s, and/or the horizontal angular VOR gain should be > .1 and < .3 upon sinusoidal stimulation on a rotatory chair. PVP typically occurs along with other age-related deficits of vision, proprioception, and/or cortical, cerebellar, and extrapyramidal function which also contribute to and might even be required for symptoms of unsteadiness, gait disturbance, and falls to manifest. These criteria simply consider the presence of these symptoms, along with documented impairment of vestibular function, in older adults.