Incidence of vestibular symptomatology in 2,500 U.S. Navy diving accidents (1933-1970).

The U.S. Navy diving accident records of 2,500 cases for the years 1933 to 1970 were analyzed and sorted into Type I and Type II decompression sickness. Type II was further sorted into "vestibular" and "other" categories. It was concluded that Type II symptoms accounted for 30% of the decompression accidents and it was estimated that the overall incidence of vestibular symptomatology was between 10 and 20%. Nearly 30% of the Type II cases were diagnosed as having vestibular involvement, although almost 60% of the cases contained a report of a symptom typically associated with the vestibular system complex, e.g., dizziness and nausea.