Type A personality in patients with dizziness

Ear, Nose & Throat Journal, July, 2007 by Jiun Fong Thong, Stephen Lo, Jeffrey Knight, Christopher Wood, Marina Savastano, Gino Marioni, Maria Aita

Dear Editor:

We read with interest the study by Savastano et al (1) examining personality traits and psychological illnesses in patients with Meniere's disease. Recently, we conducted a similar study examining the type A behavior pattern of patients referred to the neurotology clinic with a major complaint of dizziness, vertigo, or disequilibrium.

Type A is a complex of personality traits, the most significant of which is the constant sense of time-urgency, which may manifest as impatience and irritability. The prevalence of type A personality among patients with dizziness who visit the neurotology clinic may result from the fact that type A patients, being more time-urgent and keen to get back to routine, are more likely to seek help with their symptoms.

We used a self-administered, validated questionnaire adapted from the Bortner Self-Rating Scale (2) to measure type A personality for our study. The four categories of personality were: strongly type A, moderately type A, moderately type B, and strongly type B. Fifty-four patients (38 female, 16 male) were included in the study. Preliminary results showed that most patients were of moderately (61%) or strongly (20%) type A personalities, with only 19% being of moderately type B and none of strongly type B personalities.

A further study is currently in progress to determine whether having type A personality might predict patients' response to balance retraining exercises.

References

(1.) Savastano M, Marioni G, Aita M. Psychological characteristics of patients with Meniere's disease compared with patients with vertigo, tinnitus, or hearing loss. Ear Nose Throat J 2007;86(3):148-56.

(2.) Bortner RW. A short rating scale as a potential measure of pattern A behavior. J Chronic Dis 1969;22(2):87-91.

Jiun Fong Thong, MBChB, MRCS (DO-HNS)

Stephen Lo, MBBS, BMedSc, MBA (Health), MRCS

(DLO)

Jeffrey Knight, MBBS, FRCS

Department of Otolaryngology

St. George's Hospital

London, UK

Christopher Wood, BSc (Audiology)

The Balance Centre

Mayday University Hospital

Croydon, UK

Response

The letter from Thong et al confirms the importance of our psychological approach to patients with otologic disturbances. Our collaboration with psychologists allows us to develop new and interesting methods of study that can identify differentiated personality profiles. In our clinical practice, we perform a screening that allows us to choose the most suitable therapeutic approach for each patient.

In particular, in previous years we focused our attention on tinnitus sufferers. (1,2) Recently, in the article to which Thong et al refer, we pointed out some interesting somatic and psychological features that are in agreement with findings reported by Byrne and Rosenman, (3) who found a relationship between behavioral characteristics and type A characteristics.

References

(1.) Savastano M, Maron MB. Importance of behavior in response to tinnitus symptoms. Int Tinnitus J 1999;5(2):1-4.

(2.) Savastano M, Aita M, Barlani F. Psychological, neural, endocrine, and immune study of stress in tinnitus patients: Any correlation between psychometric and biochemical measures? Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 2007; 116(2): 100-6.

(3.) Byrne DG, Rosenman RH. Type A behaviour and the experience of affective discomfort. J Psychosom Res 1986;30(6):663-72.

Marina Savastano, MD

Gino Marioni, MID

Maria Aita, PsyD

ENT Section

Department of Medical-Surgical Specialties

Padova University Hospital

Padova, Italy