Impact of multiple etiology on dizziness handicap

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to find the ratio of multiple diagnosis in dizziness patients and to evaluate the effect of multiple etiologies on handicap level of the patient. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. SETTING: Tertiary referral center. INTERVENTION: The data of 703 patients (178 men and 525 women) were included in the study. Diagnoses of the patients were made in a multiple-specialty environment including otolaryngology, neurology, cardiology, internal medicine, and rehabilitation medicine. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: All patients filled the dizziness handicap inventory and pointed the severity of dizziness on a 10-point visual analog scale. RESULTS: Four hundred thirty-three patients (61.6%) have only one diagnosis, whereas 183 (26%) had two. Three diseases have been found in 34 patients (4.8%), and four diseases were present in eight patients (1.1%). The mean number of diagnosis in one patient was 1.32 ± 0.71. There was a significant difference between two sexes on the number of disease. There was no correlation between age and the number of diagnosis. There was no significant difference in functional scale, but the statistically significant increases are present in both physical (p < 0.05) and emotional (p < 0.01) scales. There was no correlation between age and handicap levels. CONCLUSION: Multiple diagnoses were important factors on physical and emotional handicaps. It was also found that this problem is not limited with older age group. © 2006, Otology & Neurotology, Inc.