Epidemiology

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is said to be the most commonly recognized vestibular disorder (1).

• the incidence of benign positional vertigo has been estimatesd to be between 10.7 to 64 per 100,000 population per year
• the life time prevalence is 2.4 (2)
• most patients are older than 40 years (most commonly between the fifth and seventh decades of life) but all age groups can be affected.
• women have double the incidence of men.
• common causes of the disorder include (1)
  • vestibular neuronitis - in 10 percent of patients
  • head trauma - in 20 percent of patients .
• in old age, the most common cause is degeneration of the vestibular system of the inner ear (3)
• minor strokes and Ménière's disease are significant but unusual causes (3)
• in most patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, there is no associated cause found

Reference:

• (1) Furman JM, Cass SP. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. N Engl J Med 1999;341:1590
• (2) Bhattacharyya N et al. Clinical practice guideline: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008;139(5 Suppl 4):S47-81
• (3) Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.American hearing research foundation 2006