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Can scoring of symptoms in dizzy children aid the categorization of causes of dizziness for accurate referral?

The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology volume 28, pages 214–233 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Participants and methods

This study included 20 dizzy children, who were compared with 10 healthy children, aged 6–12 years. Assessment of history taking was carried out using an Arabic dizziness questionnaire, for which a scoring system was designed to include a thorough evaluation of the different systems involved in balance control; a comparison with the results of referral was carried out.

Objective

To categorize the causes of dizziness into diagnostic categories and to determine the ability of the scoring system to direct to a certain referral for diagnosing the cause of dizziness.

Results

The questionnaire’s diagnostic categories matched the diagnosis on referral in 75% of cases. Its sensitivity in diagnosing vestibular category was 88.89%. The scoring was applied to the present history, but relevant data in the past medical and family histories were taken into consideration.

Conclusion

The questionnaire seems to be a reasonable anamnesis for use in training, with a scoring system that can categorize dizzy children by the system/systems affected. It provides questions that a trainee needs to be considering when managing balance disorders in the clinic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Audiology Unit, Department of Otolaryngology, Kasr Al-Aini Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed I. Shabana, Abeir O. Dabbous MD, Noha A. Hosni & Mariam M. Medhat

Authors
  1. Mohamed I. Shabana
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  2. Abeir O. Dabbous MD
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  3. Noha A. Hosni
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  4. Mariam M. Medhat
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abeir O. Dabbous MD.

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Shabana, M.I., Dabbous, A.O., Hosni, N.A. et al. Can scoring of symptoms in dizzy children aid the categorization of causes of dizziness for accurate referral?. Egypt J Otolaryngol 28, 214–233 (2012). https://doi.org/10.7123/01.EJO.0000418071.01257.ba

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7123/01.EJO.0000418071.01257.ba

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