Dizziness in a community elderly population.
Dizziness was studied in 1,622 community-dwelling adults aged 60 and older who were interviewed as part of the Duke Epidemiologic Catchment Area study. The lifetime prevalence of dizziness (defined as severe enough to see a physician, to take a medication, or to interfere with daily activities) was 29.3%; the 1-year prevalence was 18.2%. When the subgroup with dizziness was compared with those who never suffered dizziness, using logistic regression, four variables displayed the strongest associations: a constructed variable of risk for multiple neurosensory deficits, a cardiovascular risk score, a depression symptom inventory, and perception of self as a nervous person. In this population, dizziness was not associated with increased risk of death or institutionalization at the 1-year follow up.
Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599.
P
P
Sloane
D
D
Blazer
L K
LK
George
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications; D004244:Dizziness / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D011897:Random Allocation