One-year outcome for patients with a chief complaint of dizziness.
J Gen Intern Med
; 9(12): 684-9, 1994 Dec.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-7876951
ABSTRACT
UNLABELLED OBJECTIVE. To determine the one-year outcome for patients with a chief complaint of dizziness that had persisted at least two weeks. DESIGN:
Prospective cohort study.SETTING:
Federal teaching hospital. PATIENTS 100 dizzy patients and 25 control subjects. MEASUREMENTS The primary outcome was dizziness status (improved or not improved); the secondary outcomes were morbidity and health care utilization.RESULTS:
The dizziness resolved for 18 patients, whereas the status improved for 37, stayed the same for 32, and worsened for 11, with two patients lost to follow-up. Thus, 55% of patients whose dizziness had not resolved two weeks after their initial visits improved over the subsequent 12 months. Logistic regression revealed four independent predictors of persistent dizziness at one-year follow-up dizziness due to psychiatric causes, dysequilibrium, vertigo other than benign positional vertigo, vestibular neuronitis, or migraine (odds ratio, 6.3; 95% CI, 2.1-18.6); daily dizziness (odds ratio, 6.4; 95% CI, 2.0-21.0); dizziness worse with walking (odds ratio, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.1-9.0); and patient had initially feared a serious illness (odds ratio, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.10-0.74). These four factors could be used to classify patients as having either a high (82%), medium (47%), or low (0%) likelihood of improvement at one-year follow-up. One patient died from heart failure, and none developed a serious disease for which dizziness had been a harbinger. Dizziness was not associated with an increased number of clinic visits.CONCLUSIONS:
Among patients with a chief complaint of dizziness who are still symptomatic at two-week follow-up, more than half improve within a year. Clinical factors identify patients at higher risk for persistent dizziness.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Tontura
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Incidence_studies
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Observational_studies
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Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Aspecto:
Patient_preference
Limite:
Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Gen Intern Med
Ano de publicação:
1994
Tipo de documento:
Article