Takeaway
- Patients with hypertension who experience vertigo are at higher risks for stroke mortality compared to those without dizziness or patients with dizziness other than vertigo.
Why this matters
- 0.2%-3.4% of patients hospitalised for stroke-related events have reported symptoms such as dizziness or vertigo.
- European guidelines recommend looking out mainly for such symptoms which may be related to organ damage.
- The prognostic importance of vertigo in hypertension prompts the need for multidisciplinary management among patients with vertigo and hypertension.
Study design
- A total of 1716 patients with hypertension were identified from the OLD-HTA Lyon’s cohort (1970’s); patients were followed for 30 years.
- Funding: None disclosed.
Key results
- Of the 33.9% patients who had dizziness, the subtypes presented were vertigo (n=110), hypotension-like dizziness (n=168), motion sickness dizziness (n=300), and other dizziness (n=184).
- 956 deaths were reported, of which 508 were cardiovascular cause and 114 with fatal acute strokes as the cause.
- Increased risks for stroke mortality were reported in patients with:
- vertigo vs no dizziness (aHR, 2.43; P=.004) and
- vertigo vs dizziness excluding vertigo (aHR, 2.22; P=.010).
- Dizziness was not associated with risks for stroke mortality (aHR, 1.27; P=.247).
Limitations
- Potential recall bias.
- Chances of misclassification of dizziness.
References
References
