Prognosis and Survival of Older Patients With Dizziness in Primary Care: A 10-Year Prospective Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: The prognosis of older patients with dizziness in primary care is unknown. Our objective was to determine the prognosis and survival of patients with different subtypes and causes of dizziness. METHODS: In a primary care prospective cohort study, 417 older adults with dizziness (mean age 79 years) received a full diagnostic workup in 2006-2008. A panel of physicians classified the subtype and primary cause of dizziness. Main outcome measures were mortality and dizziness-related impairment assessed at 10-year follow-up. RESULTS: At 10-year follow-up 169 patients (40.5%) had died. Presyncope was the most common dizziness subtype (69.1%), followed by vertigo (41.0%), disequilibrium (39.8%), and other dizziness (1.7%). The most common primary causes of dizziness were cardiovascular disease (56.8%) and peripheral vestibular disease (14.4%). Multivariable adjusted Cox models showed a lower mortality rate for patients with the subtype vertigo compared with other subtypes (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.40-0.96), and for peripheral vestibular disease vs cardiovascular disease as primary cause of dizziness (HR = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.25-0.84). After 10 years, 47.7% of patients who filled out the follow-up measurement experienced substantial dizziness-related impairment. No significant difference in substantial impairment was seen between different subtypes and primary causes of dizziness. CONCLUSIONS: The 10-year mortality rate was lower for the dizziness subtype vertigo compared with other subtypes. Patients with dizziness primarily caused by peripheral vestibular disease had a lower mortality rate than patients with cardiovascular disease. Substantial dizziness-related impairment in older patients with dizziness 10 years later is high, and indicates that current treatment strategies by family physicians may be suboptimal.

Recurrent vertigo is a predictor of stroke in a large cohort of hypertensive patients.

OBJECTIVE: Dizziness is associated with hypertension but there are numerous other causes. The aims of the present study were to describe the characteristics and the clinical correlates of dizziness in a large cohort of hypertensive patients, and to test its prognostic value for all-cause, cardiovascular, and stroke mortality. METHODS: A total of 1716 individuals from the OLD-HTA Lyon's cohort of hypertensive patients recruited in the 1970s were categorized according to the absence or the presence of dizziness. The dizziness group was subdivided into vertigo and other dizziness excluding vertigo. RESULTS: Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that presence of dizziness was predicted by age, female sex, coronary artery disease, and the absence of microalbuminuria. During 30 years of follow-up, we observed 956 deaths, 508 of which with a cardiovascular cause, and 114 fatal acute strokes. In the multivariate Cox regression model, the presence of dizziness had no impact on the risk for all-cause mortality [hazard ratio 0.91; 95% CI (0.78-1.06)], cardiovascular mortality [hazard ratio 0.86; 95% CI (0.70-1.05)], or stroke mortality [hazard ratio 1.27; 95% CI (0.85-1.90)]. In an analysis of the different subgroups of dizziness, only vertigo had a prognostic impact. The increased risk was particularly marked on stroke death with a hazard ratio of 2.43 (95% CI 1.33-4.46) vs. patients without dizziness and 2.22 (95% CI 1.21-4.06) vs. patients with dizziness excluding vertigo. CONCLUSION: Hypertensive patients with dizziness did not have a high-risk profile at baseline, but those with vertigo must be carefully followed over years because of the higher stroke mortality.

Sudden Hearing Loss with Vertigo Portends Greater Stroke Risk Than Sudden Hearing Loss or Vertigo Alone.

BACKGROUND: Because it is unknown whether sudden hearing loss (SHL) in acute vertigo is a "benign" sign (reflecting ear disease) or a "dangerous" sign (reflecting stroke), we sought to compare long-term stroke risk among patients with (1) "SHL with vertigo," (2) "SHL alone," and (3) "vertigo alone" using a large national health-care database. METHODS: Patients with first-incident SHL (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition, Clinical Modification [ICD-9-CM] 388.2) or vertigo (ICD-9-CM 386.x, 780.4) were identified from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan (2002-2009). We defined SHL with vertigo as a vertigo-related diagnosis ±30 days from the index SHL event. SHL without a temporally proximate vertigo diagnosis was considered SHL alone. The vertigo-alone group had no SHL diagnosis. All the patients were followed up until stroke, death, withdrawal from the database, or current end of the database (December 31, 2012) for a minimum period of 3 years. The hazards of stroke were compared across groups. RESULTS: We studied 218,656 patients (678 SHL with vertigo, 1998 with SHL alone, and 215,980 with vertigo alone). Stroke rates at study end were 5.5% (SHL with vertigo), 3.0% (SHL alone), and 3.9% (vertigo alone). Stroke hazards were higher in SHL with vertigo than in SHL alone (hazard ratio [HR], 1.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28-2.91) and in vertigo alone (HR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.18-2.25). Defining a narrower window between SHL and vertigo (±3 days) increased the hazards. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of SHL plus vertigo in close temporal proximity is associated with increased subsequent stroke risk over SHL alone and vertigo alone. This suggests that SHL in patients with vertigo is not necessarily a benign peripheral vestibular sign.

Risk of stroke in patients hospitalized for isolated vertigo: a four-year follow-up study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: vertigo is a common presenting symptom in ambulatory care settings, and stroke is its leading and most challenging concern. This study aimed to determine the risk of stroke in vertigo patients in a 4-year follow-up after hospitalization for acute isolated vertigo. METHODS: the study cohorts consisted of all patients hospitalized with a principal diagnosis of vertigo (n=3021), whereas patients hospitalized for an appendectomy in 2004 (n=3021) comprised the control group and surrogate for the general population. Cox proportional hazard model was performed as a means of comparing the 4-year stroke-free survival rate between the 2 cohorts after adjusting for possible confounding and risk factors. Among vertigo patients, there was further stratification for risk factors to identify the group at high risk for stroke. RESULTS: of the 243 stroke patients, 185 (6.1%) were from the study cohort and 58 (1.9%) were from the control group. Comparing the 2 groups, patients with vertigo symptoms had a 3.01-times (95% CI, 2.20-4.11; P<0.001) higher risk for stroke after adjusting for patient characteristics, comorbidities, geographic region, urbanization level of residence, and socioeconomic status. Vertigo patients with ≥ 3 risk factors had a 5.51-fold higher risk for stroke (95% CI, 3.10-9.79; P<0.001) than those without risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: vertigo patients are at higher risk for stroke than the general population. They should have a comprehensive neurological examination, vascular risk factors survey, and regular follow-up for several years after hospital discharge after treatment of isolated vertigo.