title: The dizziness handicap inventory and its relationship with functional balance performance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to describe the relation between the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) and balance performance measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatient balance clinic in a tertiary referral center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients referred with dizziness or imbalance of vestibular and nonvestibular origin.
  
  
  METHODS
  DHI, Romberg with Jendrassik maneuver, standing on foam, tandem Romberg, single-leg stance, the timed up and go test, the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI), tandem gait, and the 10-m walking test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of participants (n = 214) was 53.9 years. The mean DHI total score was 35.1, ranging from 0 to 96. Spearman rank correlation coefficients (rS) between DHI and the static balance tests were fair and ranged between -0.42 (p < 0.01) for single-leg stance with eyes closed and -0.51 (p < 0.01) for single-leg stance with eyes open. Only the Romberg test with Jendrassik maneuver correlated weakly (rS = -0.25; p < 0.01) with the DHI. Correlations with the walking tests were moderate, the connection with the DGI being the strongest one (rS = -0.69; p < 0.01). Forty-two percent of the variance in DHI scores in our patients was accounted for by the DGI score (r = 0.417).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Functional balance tests involving locomotion correlate better with DHI scores when compared with static balance measures. The DGI explains a large component of handicap in dizzy and unsteady patients, which advocates its use in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuro- and Psychomotor Physical Therapy, Department of Health Care Sciences, University College of Antwerp, Merksem, Belgium. l.vereeck@ha.be
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vereeck
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Truijen
authors.forename: Floris L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Wuyts
authors.forename: Paul H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Van de Heyning
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002150:Caloric Tests; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004244:Dizziness / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000503:physiopathology; D016138:Walking