Vertigo and dizziness cause considerable more health care resource use and costs: results from the KORA FF4 study

Objectives Vertigo is a common reason for primary care consultations, and its diagnosis and treatment consume considerable medical resources. However, limited information on the specific cost of vertigo is currently available. The aim of this study is to analyse the health care costs of vertigo and examine which individual characteristics would affect these costs. Study design We used cross-sectional data from the German KORA (“Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region”) FF4 study in 2013. Methods Impact of personal characteristics and other factors was modelled using a two-part model. Information on health care utilisation was collected by self-report. Results We included 2277 participants with a mean age of 60.8 (SD = 12.4), 48.4% male. Moderate or severe vertigo was reported by 570 (25.0%) participants. People with vertigo spent 818 Euro more than people without vertigo in the last 12 months (2720.9 Euro to 1902.9 Euro, SD = 4873.3 and 5944.1, respectively). Consultation costs at primary care physicians accounted for the largest increase in total health care costs with 177.2 Euro ( p