Outcome evaluation of the dizziness handicap inventory in an outpatient vestibular clinic

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The DHI is a widely used questionnaire for the evaluation of the self-reported disability in patients with dizziness and balance problems.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the DHI scores and demographic, symptomatic and diagnostic parameters.

METHODS: Retrospective study in 568 patients with balance problems.

RESULTS: We observed a total of 61.3% of patients with moderate (DHI total score between 30 and 59) to severe (DHI total score between 60 and 100) disability.

Patients with long-standing complaints (lasting longer than 3 months) experience their self-reported disability to a greater extent than patients with new onset pathology (illness duration of one month and less). Moreover, patients suffering from continuous complaints have a larger DHI score than patients with shorter symptom duration. The first effect (new onset vs. long-standing pathology) is primarily caused by emotional factors, the latter effect (symptom duration) is attributable to functional and physical factors, not to emotional aspects. Patients with daily and weekly complaints have larger DHI scores than patients who reported only one episode. Female patients reported larger DHI scores than males. We found no effect of age, diagnostic group (no diagnosis, episodic, acute or chronic vestibular syndrome) or reported symptoms on the DHI scores.

CONCLUSIONS: The information retrieved from the DHI questionnaire is complementary to the information obtained from clinical investigation and diagnostic tests and therefore is an essential tool in a vestibular clinic.