Prevalence of Epley's maneuver in primary care physicians in Catalonia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common peripheral vertigo and posterior semicircular canal is the main responsible. In primary care is a frequent reason for consultation and requires several visits because the symptoms appear and disappear. The first line treatment are canalith repositioning procedure (CRP) that includes Epley’s maneuver for the posterior semicircular canal (PSC). OBJECTIVE: to estimate the performance of the Epley maneuver by primary care physicians in Catalonia by creating and validating a questionnaire to explore the causes that may lead professionals not to perform the maneuver in the consultation. METHODS: this protocol proposes a descriptive cross-sectional study that will be carried out in the primary care centers of Catalonia. A validated survey will be sent by e-mail from responsible for research and training of “Dirección de atención primaria” (DAP) and “Colegio oficial de médicos” (COM) to every general practitioners (GPs), and it will be necessary at least 224 subjects randomly selected to estimate with a 95% confidence the prevalence of GPs that perform the maneuver. CONCLUSION: through the application of the questionnaire, different strategies can be developed to improve the training of professionals in this topic and reduce the number of re-visits, referrals to specialists and prescription of medications