Dizziness in the Maltese community setting : the implications of good history-taking

Abstract

This paper presents a retrospective analysis of 100 consecutive patients presenting with dizziness to a community-based otolaryngologist. The aim of this study was to analyze the main causes of dizziness in the community, and to correlate the symptoms with the final diagnosis. The commonest causes of dizziness in this group were benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), labyrinthine diseases (such as Meniere’s disease and acute labyrinthitis) and brainstem vascular insufficiency. The mean age of 100 patients was 55.6 (SD ± 19.1) years. Sixty six were women and 34 were men. Clinical assessment of the main presenting symptom was very important in distinguishing between the various categories of dizziness and helped achieve a final diagnosis. Patients with vertigo were significantly more likely to have otological abnormalities compared to those patients with other forms of dizziness (p< 0.0001).