Topic: falls

Cognitive impairment is a risk factor for falls, particularly true in the elderly due to age-related decline. Chronic drug consumption, often encountered in elder, has been reported to increase this risk, although underlying mechanisms remain to be uncovered (cumulative effect due to chronic use or increased half-life/higher sensitivity). Among opioid drugs mostly prescribed in elderly within European countries, tramadol is associated to risk of falls. Herein, we investigated the different types of cognitive processes affected after acute or chronic tramadol administration. We conducted a 6-we

Introduction. Studies of peripheral vestibular loss indicate that its consequences may vary depending on the impaired side. For instance, a left-sided loss tends to have a greater impact on the representation of body orientation. Our hypothesis here was that the influence on balance also depends on the side of the lesion.​Methods: Balance was examined in 21 patients with cochleovestibular nerve schwannoma (13 on the left side, 8 on the right side) one day before and two months after neurotomy. We measured the velocity of the center of foot pressure displacements and the signal power density in