title: Migraine trait symptoms in migraine with and without aura.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to determine whether various transient sensory and neuropsychological symptoms (SNS) were associated with migraine using a custom questionnaire.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this hypothesis-generating case-control study, the frequencies of transient SNS in 219 patients with migraine (149 without aura and 70 with aura) were compared with 161 age- and sex-matched healthy controls using a custom questionnaire. Patients from a tertiary academic headache center in Hamburg were contacted by regular mail. Healthy controls without a history of migraine were recruited by means of a screening questionnaire and consecutively approached by e-mail.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The presence of both migraine and aura was associated with significantly higher frequencies of autokinesis, metamorphopsia, dyschromatopsia, cinematographic vision, illusionary visual spread, and synesthesia (for all comparisons: corrected p < 0.05). Double vision, inverted 2- and 3-dimensional vision, and altered perception of body weight and size were found more often in patients with migraine without aura than in those with aura. In contrast, aura was associated with the occurrence of visual splitting and corona phenomenon (for all comparisons: corrected p < 0.05). No relevant association with migraine was found for micropsia and macropsia, teleopsia and pelopsia, inverted vision, out-of-body experience, Doppelgänger phenomenon, complex visual hallucinations, and altered perception of body position in space.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The observed SNS seem to belong to a physiologic spectrum of multisensory phenomena. Some of these phenomena were significantly accentuated in patients with migraine and may therefore be termed migraine trait symptoms. However, these results will have to be confirmed in a prospective study with face-to-face interviews.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Jürgens
authors.forename: Laura H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Schulte
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: May
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000523:psychology; D007699:Kinesthesis; D008297:Male; D020325:Migraine with Aura / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D020326:Migraine without Aura / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D010469:Perceptual Distortion; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology