EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON VESTIBULO-OCULAR SYSTEM
1Bezmialem Vakif University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Audiology, Istanbul, Turkey2Bezmialem Vakif University, Ear Nose Throat Department, Istanbul, Turkey Objectives: Dizziness is associated with the involvement of the peripheral and central nervous systems. It is known that dizziness complaints in individuals with Covid-19 may be due to the involvement of the peripheral and/or central nervous system. This study aims to evaluate the effects on vestibular and oculomotor systems after Covid-19.
Material and methods: Twenty-eight individuals with a history of Covid-19 and 20 healthy individuals with no history of Covid-19 were included in this study. Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), videonystagmography (VNG), and video head impulse test (vHIT) were administered to both groups.
Results: In the study group left anterior and right lateral semicircular canal (SCC) vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) gains were lower, the anterior and posterior SCC asymmetry were higher than the control group in vHIT (p<0.05). In the study group, the gain values were lower for the right eye at 0.1 Hz, and left eye and right eye at 0.2 Hz, left eye and right eye 0.4 Hz in smooth pursuit test, the accuracy of right moving values were lower in saccade test (p<0.05). The gain values were lower in the optokinetic test in individuals with Covid-19 (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Covid-19 may not cause a severe dizziness problem. However, the abnormalities we observed in objective test results suggest that this situation may adversely affect the quality of life of individuals in long term.
Keywords : Covid-19; Oculomotor system; Vestibular system; Vestibuloocular reflex