Clinical practicality of the dizziness handicap inventory for evaluating dizziness in the Mandarin Chinese-speaking population: a prospective cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

Objective To explore the clinical practicality of the dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) in the Mandarin Chinese-speaking population and compare patients’ and physicians’ assessments of the impact of dizziness on the quality of life using the DHI. Design Prospective cross-sectional. Study sample Overall, 144 consecutive patients aged ≥ 18 years seeking treatment for dizziness in an Ear-Nose-Throat clinic in China. Results Some items in the DHI could not be completed by both patients (46/144, 31.9%) and physicians (26/144, 18.1%). In fully completed DHIs (98/144, 68.1%), the patients’ self-assessment scores were higher than the physicians’ assessment scores (average 44.04 ± 21.38 vs 35.94 ± 16.99; p < 0.05). The strength of the correlation between the patients’ and physicians’ total DHI scores was high (r = 0.80; p < 0.05). Moreover, at a cut-off point of 18, the discrepancy scores of 77.6% (76/98) of the cases did not exceed the minimum detectable change (MDC) of the DHI. Conclusions The clinical practicality of the DHI in such settings requires improvement. Even though physician interviews can increase the degree of questionnaire completion, not all items can be completed. Although the physicians’ assessment scores were lower than the patients’ self-assessment scores, the majority of the discordancy scores were within the MDC of the DHI.