Stroke risk stratification in acute dizziness presentations

Objective: To estimate the ability of bedside information to risk stratify stroke in acute dizziness presentations.

Methods: Surveillance methods were used to identify patients with acute dizziness and nystagmus or imbalance, excluding those with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, medical causes, or moderate to severe neurologic deficits. Stroke was defined as acute infarction or intracerebral hemorrhage on a clinical or research MRI performed within 14 days of dizziness onset. Bedside information comprised history of stroke, the ABCD² score (age, blood pressure, clinical features, duration, and diabetes), an ocular motor (OM)-based assessment (head impulse test, nystagmus pattern [central vs other], test of skew), and a general neurologic examination for other CNS features. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the association of the bedside information with stroke. Model calibration was assessed using low (<5%), intermediate (5% to <10%), and high (≥10%) predicted probability risk categories.

Results: Acute stroke was identified in 29 of 272 patients (10.7%). Associations with stroke were as follows: ABCD² score (continuous) (odds ratio [OR] 1.74; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20–2.51), any other CNS features (OR 2.54; 95% CI 1.06–6.08), OM assessment (OR 2.82; 95% CI 0.96–8.30), and prior stroke (OR 0.48; 95% CI 0.05–4.57). No stroke cases were in the model's low-risk probability category (0/86, 0%), whereas 9 were in the moderate-risk category (9/94, 9.6%) and 20 were in the high-risk category (20/92, 21.7%).

Conclusion: In acute dizziness presentations, the combination of ABCD² score, general neurologic examination, and a specialized OM examination has the capacity to risk-stratify acute stroke on MRI.