Abstract
A questionnaire survey was administered to 183 patients with vertigo or dizziness to understand the characteristics of patients with persistent dizziness. We used the Nishiike's questionnaire, which is associated with the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI). This questionnaire consists of five principal factors of handicap arising from dizziness: 1) disturbances of social activities, 2) body motion precipitating dizziness, 3) limitations of physical activity, 4) emotional disturbances, and 5) disturbances of interpersonal communications. We used the Mann-Whitney U-test for the statistical analysis, and P<0.05 was considered significant. We divided the patients into two groups: those who had a history of dizziness for over 1 year and those experiencing dizziness for less than 1 year. The score for factor 3 was significantly higher in the former group. These finding suggest that patients with persistent dizziness avoid moving their bodies. Vestibular rehabilitation is important for such patients. In addition, when the patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of nystagmus, the scores for factors 1 and 5 were significantly higher among the patients without nystagmus. Of note, the disappearance of nystagmus was not always accompanied by the recovery from dizziness. In addition, mental support may be important for these patients.
