Transient neurological dysfunction and risk of stroke in an elderly English population: the different significance of vertigo and non-rotatory dizziness.

A sample of people aged 65 and over were interviewed at home and asked a series of questions aimed at identifying episodes of possible transient neurological dysfunction. During follow-up of respondents initially free from manifest cerebrovascular disease, no relationship was found between subsequent stroke and reported episodes of diplopia, transient numbness or weakness, non-rotatory dizziness or blackouts. There was an association of stroke with reported blurring or dimming of vision, statistically significant only for the sexes combined (relative incidence ratio 1.5), and a consistently increased risk in men and women reporting rotatory vertigo (relative incidence ratio 2.5). This relationship remained significant when adjusted for the association of rotatory vertigo with ECG evidence of heart disease. Thus rotatory vertigo is a risk factor for stroke but non-rotatory dizziness is not. Conversely a previous study of falling in the same population sample had shown an association with rotatory vertigo but not with non-rotatory dizziness.