title: Frequency of migraine as a chief complaint in otolaryngology outpatient practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the frequency of typical (headache and dizziness) and common atypical (ear fullness, pressure, pain, tinnitus, facial fullness, and nasal congestion) migraine symptoms as chief complaints among patients presenting to otolaryngology clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a descriptive study of prospectively collected data from a general otolaryngology practice. Typical migraine presentations were diagnosed by applying international headache society (IHS) criteria for migraine headache and Neuhauser's criteria for migrainous vertigo. Atypical otologic and rhinologic migraine symptoms were diagnosed using individualized criteria. Charts were reviewed at 6-month interval from the first presentation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 1002 consecutive patients, 10.8% presented with "migrainous chief complaint." All migrainous chief complaint patients had a history of headache but not all of them presented with headache. Corrected female to male ratio in the migraine group was 3 to 1; age distributions were significantly different between the migraine and nonmigraine groups by applying t-test. Out of the atypical complaints, 86% of the patients had a history of concomitant typical presentation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Actual diagnostic criteria for migraine do not satisfy the diversity of its presentation. Investigating the history of migraine is enough to diagnose most atypical presentations. Sound knowledge about migraine seems essential for any ENT practitioner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Saad Specialist Hospital, Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Road, P.O. Box 3250, Alkhobar 31952, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1147-7034
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sabra
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Laboratory, Saad Research and Development Centre, Saad Specialist Hospital, Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Road, P.O. Box 3250, Alkhobar 31952, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muhammad Ali
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Laboratory, Saad Research and Development Centre, Saad Specialist Hospital, Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Road, P.O. Box 3250, Alkhobar 31952, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Maha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al Zayer
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Laboratory, Saad Research and Development Centre, Saad Specialist Hospital, Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Road, P.O. Box 3250, Alkhobar 31952, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Saleh
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2582-7771
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Altuwaijri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000379:methods; D010045:Outpatients; D011446:Prospective Studies