Recurrent dizziness among adolescents in Denmark: Trends 1991-2022 and associations with sociodemographic factors, health, and health behaviours.

Abstract

1) to study time trends in the prevalence of recurrent dizziness among adolescents in Denmark 1991-2022, and 2) to examine how dizziness was associated with sociodemographic factors, mental health related factors, health status, and health behaviours in 2022. The study focused on recurrent dizziness, i.e. episodes of dizziness several times a week during the last six months. Data stem from the Danish arm of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study which included 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from random samples of schools in nine comparable surveys from 1991 to 2022, n = 40,102. We applied multivariate logistic regression analyses in the 2022 dataset (n = 5,737) to examine how dizziness was associated with other factors. In 2022, the prevalence of recurrent dizziness was 14.3% (boys 8.8%, girls 19.7%), significantly higher than the 7.1% in the surveys 1991-2018. The prevalence in 2022 was significantly higher among girls, older students, and students not living with both parents. Dizziness was significantly elevated among students with short sleep duration, who skipped breakfast, used alcohol and tobacco, felt lonely, had low life satisfaction, low self-esteem, were exposed to bullying at school, felt high schoolwork pressure, low school satisfaction, who were underweight, overweight, had poor self-rated health, chronic illness, injuries in the last year, headache, stomachache, backpain, feeling low, irritability/bad temper, nervousness, difficulties falling asleep, and poor/restless sleep.

Conclusion: The study suggested that dizziness is a general indicator of not feeling well, run down, or suffering rather than a sign of specific somatic health problems.

What is known: • Recurrent dizziness is common among adolescents and may limit daily activities and harm quality of life. • Recurrent dizziness in adolescence may reflect somatic and mental health problems and is strongly associated with headache.

What is new: • The prevalence of recurrent dizziness among adolescents in Denmark was stable 1991-2018 and increased steeply from 2018 to 2022. • Recurrent dizziness was strongly associated with poor health behaviours, a broad range of somatic and mental health problems, and exposure to stressors.