Production of a device to obtain continuous ambulatory vestibular assessment (CAVA)

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In England and Wales, 8 out of every 1,000 patients are likely to consult their GP complaining of dizziness every year. Dizziness is the most common reason for a doctor to visit a patient over the age of 75 years old, and one-third of adults over the age of 65 years experiences at least one fall each year. This is particularly important as the cost of falls to the NHS and social services in people over 60 years old in 1999 was £981 million. However, we are currently significantly restricted with respect to what specialist tests are available for assessing patients with dizziness, because there are no tests available to evaluate a patient during an actual dizziness attack in the community. If this were possible, an accurate diagnosis could be made there and then, rather than speculating as to what the cause of the dizziness attack was days or weeks after the event when the patient has recovered. The US National Institutes of Health reports that the average number of doctors that a patient with dizziness visits before receiving a correct diagnosis is 4.5, and a similar finding is reported from specialist balance centers in the UK. We have developed and successfully tested a prototype body worn device to diagnose the cause of dizziness in the community, and are applying to the Medical Research Council to fund the next stage of device development. Once fully developed and tested in clinical studies, it is hoped that our device will be made available at the point of initial referral to a doctor or nurse to avoid delay in diagnosis and ensure cost-effective use of appropriate resources. Our current prototype device is only partly developed, and as such currently requires the involvement of a large, bulky and uncomfortable to wear module; as it has been constructed using unrefined electronics and off the shelf materials to prove that it is a viable concept. Our application to the Medical Research Council is to fund the development of a complete bespoke device that would be a lightweight, durable, body worn monitoring device that could be worn day and night. In addition to this, funding from the Medical Research Council would support the development of specialist computer software to analyse the data produced by our refined device.