2016 Epidemiologia Da Migrânea Vestibular
2016 Epidemiologia Da Migrânea Vestibular
2016 Epidemiologia Da Migrânea Vestibular
2016;82(4):397---402
Brazilian Journal of
OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY
www.bjorl.org
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP,
Brazil
KEYWORDS Abstract
Vestibular migraine; Introduction: Vestibular migraine (VM) is one of the most often common diagnoses in neurotol-
Vertigo; ogy, but only recently has been recognized as a disease.
Migraine disorders; Objective: To analyze the clinical and epidemiological profile of patients with VM.
Dizziness Methods: This was a retrospective, observational, and descriptive study, with analysis of
patients’ records from an outpatient VM clinic.
Results: 94.1% of patients were females and 5.9% were males. The mean age was 46.1 years;
65.6% of patients had had headache for a longer period than dizziness. A correlation was
detected between VM symptoms and the menstrual period. 61.53% of patients had auditory
symptoms, with tinnitus the most common, although tonal audiometry was normal in 68.51%.
Vectoelectronystagmography was normal in 67.34%, 10.20% had hyporeflexia, and 22.44% had
vestibular hyperreflexia. Electrophysiological assessment showed no abnormalities in most
patients. Fasting plasma glucose and glycemic curve were normal in most patients, while the
insulin curve was abnormal in 75%. 82% of individuals with MV showed abnormalities on the
metabolism of carbohydrates.
Conclusion: VM affects predominantly middle-aged women, with migraine headache represent-
ing the first symptom, several years before vertigo. Physical, auditory, and vestibular evaluations
are usually normal. The most frequent vestibular abnormality was hyperreflexia. Most individ-
uals showed abnormality related to carbohydrate metabolism.
© 2015 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published
by Elsevier Editora Ltda. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
夽 Please cite this article as: Morganti LOG, Salmito MC, Duarte JA, Bezerra KC, Simões JC, Ganança FF. Vestibular migraine: clinical and
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bjorl.2015.06.003
1808-8694/© 2015 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. This is an open
access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
398 Morganti LOG et al.
Of the total of 85 patients, 80 (94.1%) were women and five Table 2 Distribution of auditory symptoms in patients with
(5.9%) were men, with ages ranging from 19 to 79 years --- a vestibular migraine.
mean of 46.1 years and a median of 47 years.
The time until symptom onset is shown in Figure 1. The Complaint n %
symptom of headache appeared, on average, 7.3 years ear- Hearing loss 14 17.94
lier when compared to dizziness. It was also observed that Tinnitus 41 52.56
65.6% of patients had had headaches for a longer period Ear fullness 23 29.48
when compared to vertigo. No complaint 30 38.46
It was observed that headaches and dizziness occurred Total 78 100
concomitantly in most patients, as shown in Table 1.
400 Morganti LOG et al.
n % n % n %
CHL 1 1.85 1 1.85 0 0 0 0
MHL 3 5.55 0 0 2 8.33 1 1.85
SHL 13 24.07 0 0 2 8.33 11 20.37
Normal 37 68.51
Total 54 100
CHL, conductive hearing loss; MHL, mixed hearing loss; SHL, sensorineural hearing loss.
n % n % n %
Hyporeflexia 5 10.20 1 2.04 1 2.04 3 6.12
Hyperreflexia 11 22.44 2 4.08 3 6.12 6 12.24
Central 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Normal 33 67.34
Total 49 100
prevalence among women, mainly between the fifth and hypofunction, 4% bilateral hyporreflexia, and the same value
sixth decade of life (mean 46.1 years), corroborating liter- for bilateral hyperreflexia after a follow up of nine years.18
ature data.2---4,6 The later onset of vertigo symptoms, when Regarding the electrophysiological assessment, both the
compared to headache, was also confirmed.2,3,6 BERA and VEMP were normal in most individuals.
Dizziness appeared, on average, seven years after the A higher prevalence of hypothyroidism was found in
pain onset. The worsening of headache during the menstrual this sample (7.4%) when compared to the Brazilian gen-
period, well known among women diagnosed with migraine eral population (1.5%)19 (p < 0.001). For all other assessed
(50---60% of the cases), was also observed in the present comorbidities --- hypertension, dyslipidemia, depression,
sample.16,17 The same occurred with the correlation dizzi- diabetes, and epilepsy --- there were no statistically signifi-
ness vs. menstrual period. However, for the latter, there cant differences.20---22
was no statistical correlation, which may be due to the small Most VM patients had normal fasting glucose, as well
sample size, or due to the onset of vertigo after menopause as normal values at 120 min after administration of 75 g of
in many patients.6 dextrose.13 However, the insulin curve showed an alteration
Most patients reported concomitant occurrence of in 75% of subjects.14,15
headache and vertigo, and isolated symptoms occurred in VM has been only recently described, and its diagnosis
14%. In these cases, migraine equivalents such as photo and is purely clinical. The presence of symptoms that are
phonophobia or aura must accompany vestibular episodes common to other neurotological diseases, associated with
in at least 50% of the episodes in order to characterize the absence of an objective test, makes its diagnosis
VM. Otherwise, it can be defined as probable vestibular challenging.
migraine.4,9,10 It was found that 77% of the individuals Alterations in glycemic and/or insulinemic curves of
reported episodes of VM more than once per week. individuals without a specific diagnosis can lead to overes-
Auditory symptoms were observed in 61.53% of the sub- timation of metabolic alterations as the primary cause of
jects, with the tinnitus representing the main complaint. vestibular dysfunction. The error can also be supported by
However, the auditory assessment by pure tone audiome- the good response of the individual to clinical treatment,
try was unaltered in 68.51% of patients. Hearing loss, when which includes dietary recommendations and the practice of
present, was predominantly sensorineural, bilateral, sym- physical activities. It is known, however, that such measures
metric, descending, and mild. Similar findings were reported are part of the first line of the prophylactic treatment of
by Radtke et al., who attributed to VM a much slower hearing vestibular migraine, which could explain symptom improve-
loss when compared to that observed in Meniere’s disease.18 ment in patients who receive this kind of recommendation.
Vestibular assessment through vectoelectronystagmog-
raphy was, in most cases, normal, in accordance with
literature findings.6,18 The most frequently observed alter- Conclusion
ation, however, was bilateral vestibular hyperreflexia,
followed by unilateral hyperreflexia. Some authors have Vestibular migraine affects predominantly middle-aged
mentioned unilateral labyrinthine hypofunction as the most women with a history of migraine headache and vertigo,
frequent alteration.6,18 Radtke et al. found 16% unilateral with the first showing an earlier onset. Physical examination
402 Morganti LOG et al.
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14. Kraft JR. Detection of diabetes mellitus in situ (occult dia-
betes). Lab Med. 1975;6:20---2.
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