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Developing a predictive model for vertigo using demographic and laboratory data: An evidence-based medicine approach.

Yuan BC, Tzeng HM

Department of Otolaryngology, Kaohsiung Military General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

CONCLUSION: The approach described in this paper may be helpful in establishing an early-warning, evidence-based mechanism for diagnosing vertigo, which can be utilized in medical education to reduce medical uncertainty. OBJECTIVE: To use an evidence-based medicine approach to evaluate the probability of having vertigo using laboratory and demographic data. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted on 22 working days during July 2002. Targeted cases who visited a general hospital in southern Taiwan for routine physical examinations were asked to participate in the study and agreed to take additional tests during their visits. A total of 200 subjects were systematically and randomly selected from this data pool. We ran binary logistic regression on all these cases. RESULTS: The logistic regression model explained 71.3% of the variance in having vertigo or not. The equation for having vertigo was as follows: -21.855 + (1.132 x male gender) + (0.071 x age) + (-0.023 x systolic blood pressure) + (0.057 x diastolic blood pressure) + (0.048 x fasting glucose) + (0.051 x cholesterol) + (-0.005 x triglycerides) + (-0.361 x presence of cardiovascular diseases).

Published 25 November 2005 in Acta Otolaryngol, 126(1): 20-4.
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