Dizziness Handicap Inventory Score Is Highly Correlated With Markers of Gait Disturbance

Objective: To evaluate the association between Dizziness Handicap Inventory—Screening version (DHI-S) score and spatiotemporal gait parameters using SoleSound, a newly developed, inexpensive, portable footwear-based gait analysis system. Study Design: Cross-sectional. Patients: One hundred eighteen patients recruited from otology clinic. Intervention(s): Subjects completed the DHI-S survey and four uninterrupted walking laps wearing SoleSound instrumented footwear on a hard, flat surface for 100 m. Main Outcome Measure(s): For each subject, mean and coefficient of variation (CV) of stride length, cadence, walking speed, foot-ground clearance, double-support time, swing period, and stance-to-swing were computed by considering 40 strides of steady-state walking within each lap. Linear regression models were employed to study correlations between these variables and DHI-S scores after adjusting for age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Results: Patients with higher DHI-S score took shorter steps and less steps per minute (−0.017 m and −1.1 steps/min per every four-point increase in DHI-S score, p 

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