(1051) Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury and Dizziness: Do Kids Get Dizzy?

Introduction: To determine the rate of dizziness and peripheral vertigo in pediatric patients who sustained varying levels of traumatic brain injuries.

Methods: This retrospective study used de-identified patient data from TriNetX (Jan 1, 2010 - Jan 28, 2024). The dataset included pediatric patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) from 84 healthcare organizations. TBI types analyzed: concussion, traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), traumatic subdural hemorrhage (SDH), focal traumatic brain injury (fTBI), diffuse traumatic brain injury (dTBI), epidural hemorrhage (EH), and traumatic cerebral edema (tCE). Symptoms of dizziness and vertigo were assessed within one year from the initial injury. Rates were measured by the proportion of patients with both TBI and symptoms to those with TBI alone.

Results: In the analysis of 188,365 pediatric patients, 2% exhibited symptoms of dizziness or peripheral vertigo. Subset rates within TBI categories were: 2.2% for concussion, 0.6% for SAH, 0.3% for SDH, 0.5% for fTBI, 0.07% for dTBI, 0.08% for EH, and 1.5% for tCE.
Focusing on the 12-17 age group, higher rates were observed: 2.9% for concussion, 6.3% for SAH, 6.8% for SDH, 6.5% for fTBI, 7% for dTBI, 11% for EH, and 6% for tCE, indicating increased prevalence of dizziness and peripheral vertigo following respective injuries.

Conclusions: There is a not high rate of dizziness or peripheral vertigo in the overall pediatric population however, in the older pediatric age range, there seems to be a much higher rate of dizziness and peripheral vertigo following traumatic brain injury.
The study highlights that traumatic subdural hemorrhage and epidural hemorrhage correlate with increased rates of dizziness and peripheral vertigo, notably in adolescents aged 12-17. This underscores the crucial need to account for age-specific variations when assessing the impact of traumatic brain injuries on these symptoms, with higher incidence rates observed in the adolescent age group compared to the overall pediatric populations.