Usefulness of Exam Questions and Vital Signs for Predicting the Outcome of Objective Vestibular Tests.

<bold>Objectives/hypothesis: </bold>To determine the value of standard clinic screening questions and vital signs in predicting abnormal vestibular function, indicated by standard objective diagnostic tests.<bold>Study Design: </bold>Retrospective records review.<bold>Methods: </bold>We reviewed electronic medical records of 150 patients seen by the neurotologists or the physician assistant they supervised, in an out-patient tertiary care clinic, between June 2018 and March 2020, and subsequently referred for the complete objective vestibular test battery (VB).<bold>Results: </bold>Of standard questions asked during the initial exam about vertigo, disequilibrium, lightheadedness and oscillopsia, only vertigo predicted an abnormal response on the VB. More males than females had abnormal VB responses, P < .05. Pulse was not related to VB score. Significantly more subjects with blood pressure in the range for stage 2 hypertension (blood pressure [BP] stage 2) had abnormal than normal results on the VB, P < .00001. Subjects with BP stage 2 had high rates of diabetes (34.2%) and hypertension (68.4%) as diagnosed by their primary care physicians or cardiologists.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Complaints of subjective vertigo and BP in the range of hypertension stage 2 are most likely to predict abnormal findings on the VB. Therefore, during an examination of a patient who comes in complaining of dizziness, two measures may be the most useful for screening: BP in the range of hypertension type 2, when BP is taken by a nurse, and a question to determine whether or not the patient has true vertigo.<bold>Level Of Evidence: </bold>3 Laryngoscope, 131:1382-1385, 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]