2017 Volume 60 Issue 2 Pages 76-82
Dizziness is a common complaint in patients visiting the emergency room. The differential diagnosis is broad and includes both benign and life-threatening disorders. We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients presenting to the emergency room with the chief complaint of dizziness in 2011. We compared the lifestyle characteristics and clinical symptoms between patients with and without cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and performed logistic regression analysis to identify predictors of CVD. A total of 364 patients visited the emergency room in 2011 with the chief complaint of dizziness and underwent computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the head. Among these patients, 23 (6%) were found to have CVD, while the remaining 341 (94%) showed no evidence of CVD. The types of CVD in the 23 patients were cerebral infarction (7 patients, 30%), cerebellar infarction (6 patients, 24%), transient ischemic attack (3 patients, 13%), brainstem infarction (3 patients, 13%); brainstem and cerebellar infarction (2 patients, 8.6%); brainstem, cerebellar, and occipital lobe infarction (1 patient, 4.3%), and vertebrobasilar artery stenosis (1 patient, 4.3%). Our findings suggest that when patient complaining of dizziness are older and have the lifestyle of alcohol use and dyslipidemia, we should consider CVD. In patients with suspected neurological abnormality, magnetic resonance imaging should be performed.
