Diagnosing Patients With Acute-Onset Persistent Dizziness

Three percent of emergency department (ED) patients present with dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness, or imbalance.1 These words are not diagnostically meaningful.2 Rather, it is the timing and the factors that trigger the dizziness that best inform the differential diagnosis.3 Asking a patient, "What do you mean by 'dizzy'?" is less important than defining the rapidity of onset, the context, presence of associated symptoms, the intermittent or persistent nature of the dizziness, and triggers of intermittent symptoms.

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