Quality of life in elderly with dizziness

Dizziness is frequent in elderly people.

To evaluate the Quality of Life (QoL) in elderly subjects with dizziness, relate it with gender and age.

A prospective study comprising 120 elderly patients with dizziness evaluated with Brazilian versions of the Whoqol-bref and the dizziness handicap inventory (DHI). The factor analysis (FA), the Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests, and the Spearman correlation were applied to study the results.

The most compromised domains were the DHI physical domain and the Whoqol-bref physical and environment domains. FA resulted in 3 factors in the DHI and 5 factors in the Whoqol-bref. There was a moderate correlation (-0.596) in the total scores of both instruments. Males had a better QoL in the "environment perception and introspectivity" and "health perception" factors of the Whoqol-bref test. Females had a better QoL in the "functionality perception" factor of the Whoqol-bref test. There were no significant age differences.

Elderly patients with dizziness have a worse QoL. Elderly females with dizziness have worse QoL scores in "environment perception and introspectivity" and "health perception" and better QoL in the "functionality perception" factor compared to elderly males.