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Sensitivity and Specificity of the Amer Dizziness Diagnostic Scale for Detecting Vestibular System Abnormalities

Amer Al Saif, Samira Alsenany and Hisham Alem

Purpose: To investigate the sensitivity and specificity of a newly developed diagnostic tool, the Amer Dizziness Diagnostic Scale (ADDS), to evaluate and differentially diagnose vestibular disorders and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the scale and its usefulness in clinical practice. Subjects and

Methods: Two hundred subjects of both genders (Male72, Females 128) aged between 18 to 60 (49.5 ± 7.8) who had a history of vertigo and/or dizziness symptoms for the previous two weeks or less were recruited for the study. All subjects were referred from otolaryngologists, neurologists and family physicians in and around Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. On the first clinic visit, all the patients were evaluated once with the ADDS, following which they underwent the routine testing of clinical signs and symptoms, audiometry, and a neurological examination, coupled with tests of Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex function, which often serve as the "gold standard" for determining the probability of a vestibular deficit.

Results: The results showed that the ADDS strongly correlated with "true-positive" and "true-negative" responses for determining the probability of a vestibular disorder (r =0.95). A stepwise linear regression was conducted and the results indicated that the ADDS was a significant predictor of "true-positive" and "true-negative" responses in vestibular disorders (R2 =0.90). Approximately 90% of the variability in the vestibular gold standard test was explained by its relationship to the ADDS. Moreover, the ADDS was found to have a sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 96%.

Conclusion: The study showed that the Amer Dizziness Diagnostic Scale has high sensitivity and specificity and that it can be used as a method for differential diagnosis of patients with vestibular disorders.