Translation and Assessment of the Validity, Reliability, Sensitivity, and Specificity of the Persian Version of the Dizziness Symptom Profile Publisher



Soleimani H ; Mccaslin DL ; Ghahraman MA ; Jalaie S ; Kouhi A ; Borghei P ; Hoseinabadi R
Source: Auditory and Vestibular Research Published:2026

Abstract

Background and Aim: Due to the annoying nature and prevalence of dizziness, vertigo, and imbalance, the need for rapid diagnosis, and challenges in the differential diagnosis of various vestibular disorders, this study aimed to translate the Dizziness Symptom Profile (DSP), which is a self-report tool that helps clinicians differentiate the most common vestibular system disorders, into the Persian language and evaluate its validity, reliability, sensitivity, and specificity. Methods: The profile was translated into Persian as DSP-P. Face, known-groups, and concurrent validities, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, sensitivity, and specificity were determined. 253 patients with dizziness and 59 healthy individuals completed the DSP-P before visiting the otolaryngologist, and the agreement between the proposed diagnoses of DSP-P and the final diagnosis of the otolaryngologist (our gold standard) was examined. Results: The qualitative face validity of DSP-P was confirmed. There was a significant difference between the mean scores of the study groups (p<0.001). The diagnosis of DSP-P was completely in agreement with the gold standard in 53.3% of cases. Internal consistency was excellent (α≥0.81) for all categories except the persistent postural-perceptual dizziness, superior canal dehiscence and unspecified unsteadiness categories (0.62≤α≤0.69). Generally, the test-retest reliability of the DSP-P scores and diagnoses was very good. The sensitivity of DSP-P was 94.4% for diagnosing benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, 93.5% for Meniere’s disease, 100% for vestibular neuritis, 86.3% for vestibular migraine, and 84.2% for persistent postural-perceptual dizziness. Conclusion: The DSP-P was demonstrated to be a valid and reliable history-based diagnostic tool with high sensitivity and specificity. Copyright © 2026 Tehran University of Medical Sciences.