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. 2019 Mar 11;48(1):11.
doi: 10.1186/s40463-019-0336-9.

A retrospective analysis of two tertiary care dizziness clinics: a multidisciplinary chronic dizziness clinic and an acute dizziness clinic

Phillip Staibano  1 , Daniel Lelli  2 , Darren Tse  3
Affiliations

A retrospective analysis of two tertiary care dizziness clinics: a multidisciplinary chronic dizziness clinic and an acute dizziness clinic

Phillip Staibano et al. J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. .

Abstract

Background: Vertigo remains a diagnostic challenge for primary care, emergency, and specialist physicians. Multidisciplinary clinics are increasingly being employed to diagnose and manage patients with dizziness. We describe, for the first time in Canada, the clinical characteristics of patients presenting with chronic and acute dizziness to both a multidisciplinary chronic dizziness clinic (MDC) and a rapid access dizziness (RAD) clinic at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH).

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all patients presenting to the MDC and RAD clinics at TOH from July 2015 to August 2017.

Results: Overall, 211 patients (median age: 61 years old) presented to the RAD clinic and 292 patients (median age: 55 years old) presented to the MDC. In the RAD clinic, 63% of patients had peripheral dizziness, of which 55% had BPPV, and only one patient had functional dizziness. Interestingly, only 25% of RAD diagnoses were concordant with emergency department diagnoses; moreover, only 33% of RAD patients had HiNTS completed, while 44% had CT scans, of which only one scan had an abnormal finding. Prior to assessment, all patients in the MDC had an unclear cause of dizziness. 28% of patients had vestibular dizziness and 21% had functional dizziness, of which 43% had persistent postural perceptual dizziness. Moreover, 12% of patients with functional dizziness also suffered from comorbid severe anxiety and depression.

Conclusions: Dizziness is a heterogeneous disorder that necessitates multidisciplinary care, and clinics targeting both the acute and chronic setting can improve diagnostic accuracy, ensure appropriate diagnostic testing, and facilitate effective care plans for patients with dizziness.

Keywords: Acute dizziness; Chronic dizziness; Multidisciplinary; Retrospective; Vertigo.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All data collection forms and protocols were approved by the Ottawa Health Science Network Research Ethics Board (OHSN-REB) (20170751-01H). All patients were consented using OHSN-REB-approved materials prior to inclusion in this study.

Consent for publication

All participants included in this study have consented to having this research published in an international, peer-reviewed journal.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Gender and age distribution of patients seen in the MDC and RAD clinic. a: Gender and age distribution in the MDC. b: Gender and age distribution in the RAD clinic
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of diagnoses in the MDC and RAD clinic. a: Distribution of diagnoses in the MDC. b: Distribution of diagnoses in the RAD clinic
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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