Diagnosing Stroke in Patients with Acute Dizziness

Dizziness is a common complaint in emergency department (ED) patients and although the etiology can be benign, identifying acute stroke can be a challenge. The ABCD² (age, blood pressure, clinical features, duration, and diabetes) score and the HINTS (head impulse, nystagmus pattern, test of skew) assessment have previously been described as promising bedside decision support tools to diagnose or rule out acute stroke. In this single-center prospective observational study, researchers evaluated the accuracy of the ABCD² score plus an ocular motor-based assessment (head impulse test, nystagmus pattern [central vs. other], test of skew) and a general neurologic examination for predicting acute stroke in ED patients with dizziness. All patient…