Migraine patients consistently show abnormal vestibular bedside tests.
Migraine and vertigo are common disorders, with lifetime prevalences of 16% and 7% respectively, and co-morbidity around 3.2%. Vestibular syndromes and dizziness occur more frequently in migraine patients. We investigated bedside clinical signs indicative of vestibular dysfunction in migraineurs.


OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that vestibulo-ocular reflex, vestibulo-spinal reflex and fall risk (FR) responses as measured by 14 bedside tests are abnormal in migraineurs without vertigo, as compared with controls.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study including sixty individuals - thirty migraineurs, 25 women, 19-60 y-o; and 30 gender/age healthy paired controls.


RESULTS
Migraineurs showed a tendency to perform worse in almost all tests, albeit only the Romberg tandem test was statistically different from controls. A combination of four abnormal tests better discriminated the two groups (93.3% specificity).


CONCLUSIONS
Migraine patients consistently showed abnormal vestibular bedside tests when compared with controls.
Instituto Nacional de Câncer, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Eliana Teixeira
ET
Maranhão
Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Péricles
P
Maranhão-Filho
Instituto de Estudos de Saúde Pública, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Ronir Raggio
RR
Luiz
Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Maurice Borges
MB
Vincent
D000058:Accidental Falls; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004244:Dizziness / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D064087:Head Impulse Test; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009760:Nystagmus, Physiologic; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D012021:Reflex, Abnormal / Q000502:physiology*; D012027:Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests; D014792:Visual Acuity; D055815:Young Adult