Diagnoses in a dizziness unit.

Data are given on 2,515 patients who attended the Dizziness Unit on 3,113 visits. The sex incidence was 58% female, 42% male, and the sex preference most marked in the psychogenic group from ages 20 to 50. Dizziness is mainly a condition of middle-age; with a steadily aging population we can expect a disproportionate increase in patients with dizziness. Psychogenic dizziness was the commonest of all diagnoses (21.1%), followed closely by "undiagnosed"; together, these two comprised 40% of all diagnoses. Obviously, they deserve more clinical attention than such relatively rare conditions as delayed endolymphatic hydrops (0.5%) or inner ear fistula (0.4%). For all diagnostic categories, on repeated visits the original diagnosis was changed in about one-third of cases. Diagnostic conversion was most frequent in "undiagnosed", at a level of 58%.