Assessment of residual dizziness after successful canalith repositioning maneuvre in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo patients: a questionnaire-based study

Objective The purpose of this study was to assess residual dizziness (RD) after successful canalith repositioning maneuvre (CRM) treatment in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) using Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) questionnaire and Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Methods One hundred sixty BPPV patients after successful CRM treatment were recruited. All patients were divided into the residual dizziness (RD) group and without RD group. The DHI questionnaire and VAS before CRM and follow-up were asked to complete. For analysis of the improvement in symptom, we defined increment DHI and increment VAS as the difference between the baseline score and the follow-up score. Results High incidence of RD was observed in the older patients (p < 0.001). The incidence of hypertension in the RD group was also significantly higher than that of the without RD group (p = 0.022). The increment DHI-P, increment DHI-E, increment DHI-F, increment DHI-T, and increment VAS scores in the without RD group were significantly higher than that of the RD group (p < 0.001). When the cutoff point of the increment DHI total scores was 17, the sensitivity was 64.86% and the specificity was 73.26% for diagnosing RD. When the cutoff point of the increment VAS scores was 2.5, the sensitivity was 77.03% and the specificity was 81.40% for diagnosing RD. Conclusions RD is prone to occur in the older patients and increment VAS exhibits higher sensitivity and specificity in assessing RD.