Table 4.

Socio-demographic characteristics, consultation frequency, long-term drug use and medical history in dizzy and non-dizzy patients aged 65 years or older in family practice

	Prevalence (%)
	Non-dizzy (n = 46611)	Dizzy (n = 3990)	Univariate p	Multivariate* OR (95% CI)
Gender, female	57.2	65.9	< 0.001†
Age in years, mean (SEM)	74.5 (0.03)	76.1 (0.11)	< 0.001†
Health care insurance			< 0.001†
Public health	72.8	77.2
Private	27.2	22.7
Unknown/missing	0.1	0.1
Living alone			< 0.001†	1.3 (1.2-1.4)
Yes	25.6	34.8
No	69.8	60.6
Unknown/missing	4.6	4.6
Education			< 0.001†‡
None	1.4	1.5
Elementary school	37.4	43.6		1.2 (1.1-1.3) §
High school	32.5	30.2
College or university	6.4	4.2
Unknown/missing	22.4	20.5
Consultation frequency, mean (SEM)	6.3 (0.03)	12.8 (0.18)	< 0.001†
Long-term drug use||
Number of drugs, mean (SEM)	1.6 (0.01)	2.3 (0.04)	< 0.001†
Polypharmacy (> 5 drugs)	6.3	11.0	< 0.001†
Medical history
Number of diagnoses, mean (SEM)	1.9 (0.02)	2.5 (0.06)	< 0.001†
Anxiety syndrome	0.2	0.5	< 0.001†
Cataract	2.0	3.7	< 0.001†
Cerebrovascular disease	2.9	5.3	< 0.001†	1.3 (1.1-1.5)
Coronary artery disease	7.5	11.4	< 0.001†
Depression	1.7	3.0	< 0.001†
Diabetes mellitus	7.3	9.8	< 0.001†
Hypertension	12.8	18.1	< 0.001†	1.2 (1.1-1.3)
Impaired hearing	2.7	4.2	< 0.001†
Impaired vision	0.6	1.0	0.006†
Myocardial infarction	2.1	2.8	0.02
Unknown/missing	24.1	17.4

*: Forward stepwise logistic regression (entry p < 0.05, removal p < 0.1), adjusted for gender, age and consultation frequency

†: Statistically significant difference between non-dizzy and dizzy patients ≥ 65 years (p < 0.01)

‡: Linear-by-Linear Association

§ Reference: college or university

||: Criteria: a) ≥ 3 prescriptions per drug during one year of registration

b) > 180 days between first and last date of prescription per drug during one year of registration

OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval; SEM = standard error of the mean