Collected Data
We primarily collected data on whether the patient had persistent or recurrent BPPV.
Persistent BPPV was defined as representing within nine weeks of a previous session with ongoing BPPV.
Recurrent BPPV was defined as:
any episode happening more than nine weeks after the previous session.
if the patient had a documented complete resolution of their BPPV symptoms but represented with symptom recurrence.
Resolution was defined as the patient having no subjective vertigo and no nystagmus on Dix-Hallpike test.
Data collected in this study in this study included patient demographics (age, age group and gender), side of BPPV, whether the patient had a vestibular co-morbidity (such as previous vestibular neuronitis or Meniere’s disease) and number of total visits; we also recorded the presence of anxiety/depression as a medical diagnosis. Age was grouped into decades.
In order to assess the impact of socioeconomical factors on recurrent/persistent BPPV, we used the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), a measure of deprivation across 6,976 small areas in Scotland.5 It’s based on seven domains: income, education, employment, health, housing, crime and access to services. Postcode areas in Scotland are scored and ranked from 1 (most deprived) to 6976 (least deprived). This index allows for a score of an individual’s deprivation to be calculated and used for analysis.