Dizziness in a tertiary neurological department: A cross-sectional study

Dizziness is a common and challenging symptom, which can be caused by different pathophysiological mechanisms and might affect a large number of population. However, up to now, there have been limited research on the characteristics of dizziness as the chief complaint in hospitalized patients in the Department of Neurology. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the hospitalized patients with dizziness as their chief complaint in the Department of Neurology.

In this cross-sectional study, we conducted a retrospective document analysis of hospitalized patients admitted to a tertiary neurological department with the symptom of dizziness during the period of September 2019 to December 2020. We included 211 patients with dizziness as their chief complaint from 1841 patients admitted to this tertiary neurological department during that period.

Of all 1841 hospitalized patients, those with dizziness as the chief complaint accounted for 11.5% and most of their past medical history included hypertension, diabetes, cerebrovascular diseases, dyslipidemia, and coronary heart disease. Among these 211 patients, dizziness was more common in women than in men (p = .004). More patients presented with vertigo (40.8%) and light-headedness (39.8%) than disequilibrium (17.1%) and pre-syncope (2.4%). Nausea (48.3%), vomiting (34.1%), headache (13.3%), walking unsteadily (13.3%), and ear symptoms (12.8%) were the most common concomitant symptoms. Dix-Hallpike test (24.6%) and Romberg's sign (11.4%) were positive in these dizzy patients. Nystagmus (2.4%), vision changes (1.4%), and hearing disorders (8.5%) were relatively rare symptoms. Common auxiliary examinations were performed, such as magnetic resonance imaging (60.2%), computed tomography (31.8%), carotid duplex ultrasound (30.8%), and echocardiography (28.0%). Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (24.2%) and stroke/transient ischemic attack (19.0%) were confirmed to be common causes of dizziness. Note that 97.2% of dizzy patients were in improved recovery after treatment.

The diagnosis and management of dizziness remain a challenge for clinicians. Vertigo and light-headedness were the most common symptoms among different types of dizziness. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and stroke/transient ischemic attack were among the leading causes for common dizziness disorders. The prognosis of most dizzy patients was good.