Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Department of Surgery, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2024 May;133(5):512-518. doi: 10.1177/00034894241233949. Epub 2024 Feb 20.
To assess for differences in how patients and otolaryngologists define the term dizziness.
Between June 2020 and December 2022, otolaryngology clinicians and consecutive patients at 5 academic otolaryngology institutions across the United States were asked to define the term "dizziness" by completing a semantics-based questionnaire containing 20 common descriptors of the term within 5 symptom domains (imbalance-related, lightheadedness-related, motion-related, vision-related, and pain-related). The primary outcome was differences between patient and clinician perceptions of dizzy-related symptoms. Secondary outcomes included differences among patient populations by geographic location.
Responses were obtained from 271 patients and 31 otolaryngologists. Patients and otolaryngologists selected 7.7 ± 3.5 and 7.1 ± 4.3 symptoms, respectively. Most patients (266, 98.2%) selected from more than 1 domain and 17 (6.3%) patients identified symptoms from all 5 domains. Patients and clinicians were equally likely to define dizziness using terms from the imbalance (difference, -2.3%; 95% CI, -13.2%, 8.6%), lightheadedness (-14.1%; -29.2%, 1.0%), and motion-related (9.4; -0.3, 19.1) domains. Patients were more likely to include terms from the vision-related (23.6%; 10.5, 36.8) and pain-related (18.2%; 10.3%, 26.1%) domains. There were minor variations in how patients defined dizziness based on geographic location.
Patients and otolaryngologists commonly described dizziness using symptoms related to imbalance, lightheadedness, and motion. Patients were more likely to use vision or pain-related terms. Understanding of these semantic differences may enable more effective patient-clinician communication.
评估患者和耳鼻喉科医生对“头晕”一词的定义差异。
在 2020 年 6 月至 2022 年 12 月期间，美国 5 家学术耳鼻喉科机构的耳鼻喉科临床医生和连续患者被要求通过填写一份基于语义的问卷来定义“头晕”一词，该问卷包含 5 个症状领域（平衡相关、头晕相关、运动相关、视觉相关和疼痛相关）的 20 个常见描述词。主要结局是患者和临床医生对头晕相关症状的感知差异。次要结局包括按地理位置划分的患者人群差异。
共获得 271 名患者和 31 名耳鼻喉科医生的回复。患者和耳鼻喉科医生分别选择了 7.7±3.5 和 7.1±4.3 个症状。大多数患者（266 例，98.2%）选择了多个领域，17 例（6.3%）患者从所有 5 个领域识别了症状。患者和临床医生同样可能使用平衡（差异，-2.3%；95%CI，-13.2%，8.6%）、头晕（-14.1%；-29.2%，1.0%）和运动相关（9.4%；-0.3%，19.1%）领域的术语来定义头晕。患者更可能使用视觉相关（23.6%；10.5%，36.8%）和疼痛相关（18.2%；10.3%，26.1%）领域的术语。患者根据地理位置的不同，对头晕的定义略有差异。
患者和耳鼻喉科医生通常使用与平衡、头晕和运动相关的症状来描述头晕。患者更可能使用视觉或疼痛相关的术语。了解这些语义差异可能有助于促进医患沟通。
