Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Jan 3.
Published in final edited form as: Mayo Clin Proc. 2008 Jul;83(7):765–775. doi: 10.4065/83.7.765

TABLE 4.

Benign and Dangerous Diagnoses of Dizziness Cases vs Controls, Listed by Diagnostic Frequency for Dizziness Casesa

Dizziness cases
Controls without
dizziness
Diagnosis group No. % (95% CI) No. % (95% CI) OR (95% CI)
Benign
   Vasovagal syncope 628 6.6 (5.9–7.3) 2122 0.8 (0.8–0.8) 8.8 (7.8–9.9)
   Vestibular neuritis/labyrinthitisb 498 5.6 (5.0–6.2)
   Migraine 98 1.1 (0.8–1.4) 2894 1.1 (1.0–1.2) 1.0 (0.7–1.3)
   Benign paroxysmal positional vertigob 84 0.7 (0.6–0.9)
   Orthostatic hypotension 61 0.6 (0.4–0.7) 66 0.0 (0.0–0.0) 22.4 (14.3–35.1)
   Depression 82 0.6 (0.4–0.8) 3725 1.0 (1.0–1.1) 0.6 (0.5–0.8)
   Panic disorder 46 0.5 (0.3–0.7) 408 0.1 (0.1–0.2) 3.9 (2.6–5.7)
   Alcohol intoxication 51 0.5 (0.3–0.7) 3220 1.0 (0.9–1.1) 0.5 (0.3–0.7)
   Meniere diseaseb 32 0.3 (0.2–0.5)
   Multiple sclerosis 10 0.1 (NC) 157 0.1 (0.0–0.1) 1.6 (0.8–3.5)c
Dangerousd
   Fluid and electrolyte disorders 539 5.6 (5.0–6.2) 5245 1.9 (1.8–1.9) 3.1 (2.8–3.5)
   Arrhythmia 296 3.2 (2.7–3.8) 2550 0.9 (0.9–1.0) 3.5 (3.0–4.2)
   Transient ischemic attack 154 1.7 (1.4–2.0) 787 0.3 (0.3–0.3) 5.7 (4.6–7.0)
   Anemia 167 1.6 (1.3–1.9) 2255 0.8 (0.7–0.9) 2.0 (1.7–2.5)
   Hypoglycemia 110 1.4 (1.0–1.7) 1127 0.4 (0.4–0.5) 3.2 (2.5–4.1)
   Angina 87 0.9 (0.6–1.1) 2107 0.8 (0.8–0.9) 1.0 (0.8–1.4)
   Myocardial infarction 73 0.8 (0.5–1.0) 2149 0.8 (0.7–0.9) 1.0 (0.7–1.3)
   Stroke/intracerebral hemorrhage 39 0.5 (0.3–0.7) 262 0.1 (0.1–0.1) 5.4 (3.6–7.9)
   Carbon monoxide poisoning 16 0.2 (NC) 59 0.0 (0.0–0.0) 7.4 (4.0–13.6)c
   Subarachnoid hemorrhage/intracranial
     aneurysm/cervicocranial vascular
     dissection
3 0.1 (NC) 41 0.0 (0.0–0.0) 4.4 (0.9–22.0)c
Alcohol withdrawal 7 0.0 (NC) 292 0.1 (0.1–0.1) 0.6 (0.3–1.4)c
   Aortic dissection/ruptured aneurysm 2 0.0 (NC) 34 0.0 (0.0–0.0) 2.0 (0.4–9.1)c
a

CI = confidence interval; NC = not calculated because sample had fewer than 30 observations; OR = odds ratio.

b

These vestibular diagnoses were included a priori within dizziness cases; thus, no comparison can be made with the control group without dizziness.

c

These ORs are potentially unstable estimates given the relatively few sampled diagnoses among dizziness cases.

d

There were no sampled cases among dizziness cases of pulmonary embolism, bacterial meningitis, or adrenal insufficiency. Likewise, there were too few sampled cases among controls without dizziness to calculate stable point estimates. Thus, we did not report these prospectively defined groups.