WASHINGTON, DC-Although migraine headache and dizziness coexist in a sizable proportion of the general population, the interface between migraine and dizziness is not well understood, according to a panel of experts. Ten percent of adults in the United States have migraine, but 30% to 40% of patients seen in dizziness clinics have migraine, and this suggests that there is more than a coincidental association of migraine and dizziness. About 10% of dizziness clinic patients have vertigo caused by migraine, and patients with migraine are more likely to suffer from Ménière’s disease and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), explained Stephen P. Cass, MD, Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.
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November 2007There are no internationally accepted criteria for migraine-associated dizziness, he said. However, the following working criteria were proposed by Neuhauser et al. in Neurology in 2001: recurrent episodic vertigo symptoms and current or prior history of migraine; and at least one migraine symptom during two episodes of vertigo (Neuhauser H et al. The interrelations of migraine, vertigo, and migrainous vertigo. Neurology 2001; 56(4):436-41).
To diagnose migraine-associated dizziness, the otolaryngologist needs to know the criteria for migraine headache, which include unilateral throbbing pain lasting from four to 72 hours accompanied by nausea/vomiting, photophobia, or phonophobia. Migraine preferentially affects women of childbearing years, can be triggered by stress or red wine or fluorescent lights, and patients with migraine often need to go to bed. Vertigo occurs most often in patients who have had migraine episodes without aura, Dr. Cass said, but it can also occur in migraine with aura.