Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2023 Feb;66(2):85-91. 10.3342/kjorl-hns.2021.00752.

Clinical Analysis of Dizziness Patients Who Visited Emergency Room

• Lee SJ
• Lee HN
• Park MK
• Byun H
• Lee SH
• Chung JH

• KMID: 2539999
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/kjorl-hns.2021.00752

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Dizziness has diverse underlying causes, so the diagnosis is challenging especially in the emergency room. The aim of this study is to identify clinical characteristics of patients’ complaints of dizziness in the emergency room.
Subjects and Method
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 10367 patients who visited the emergency room with the chief complaint of dizziness from January 2016 to December 2020. Patients’ clinical information including age, sex, final diagnoses, consulting departments, treatment results and seasonal incidences were thoroughly assessed.
Results
Of the total patients who visited the emergency room, 4.64% complained of dizziness. The mean age of patients was 57.6 years old. The most common age group was over 70’s (28.1%). There were 6322 (61.1%) female patients, while 4035 (38.9%) were male patients. Nearly half 4932 (47.6%) of the patients were managed by the emergency department, followed by 3204, who were managed by the department of otolaryngorhinology (30.9%), and 1166 (11.2%) managed by the neurology department. The dizziness was classified as peripheral vertigo (33.8%), nonspecific dizziness (27.4%), medical conditions (13.9%), central dizziness (11.0%), cardiac dizziness (6.2%), and other miscellaneous causes of trauma, neoplasm and psychogenic causes (7.7%). In peripheral vertigo, the incidence of BPPV, vestibular neuritis and Meniere’s disease were 23.5%, 8.8% and 0.6%, respectively.
Conclusion
Peripheral vertigo accounted for the majority for the patients with chief complaints of dizziness in the emergency room. As diverse medical conditions may cause dizziness, specialized departments have to be involved in the diagnostic process of dizziness.

Keyword

Dizziness; Emergency room; Vertigo