Skip to main content

BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neuro-Otology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1426081
This article is part of the Research Topic Vestibular Migraine View all articles

Motion sickness whilst reading as a passenger in the car is highly predictive of vestibular migraine

Provisionally accepted
Diego Kaski Diego Kaski 1*Konstantina Rova Konstantina Rova 2Lucia Joffily Lucia Joffily 3Lara Carvalho Lara Carvalho 4Nehzat Koohi Nehzat Koohi 1
  • 1 University College London, London, United Kingdom
  • 2 G. Papanikolaou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • 3 Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 4 University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Vestibular Migraine (VM) affects up to 2.7% of the general population. Despite the establishment of diagnostic criteria by the Bárány Society and its inclusion in the International Classification of Headache Disorders, the clinical diagnosis of VM remains challenging due to its complex pathophysiology and symptom overlap with other dizziness disorders. Motion sickness is a core feature of migraine and can be interrogated through simple questionnaires.Objective: This study aims to identify to what extent motion sensitivity can predict VM compared to other causes of dizziness.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 113 patients from the vestibular neurology clinics at University College London Hospitals. Participants were categorised into VM, Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD), combined VM and PPPD, and 'other' dizziness etiologies. Data on motion sickness history and dizziness during car travel were collected through structured interviews and analysed using logistic regression to assess the predictive value of these symptoms for VM.Results: A substantial portion of patients with VM (91.2%) reported nausea or dizziness when reading as a passenger, a symptom significantly more prevalent than in those with PPPD or other dizziness diagnoses. Logistic regression indicated that VM patients are significantly more likely to experience these symptoms compared to non-VM patients, with an odds ratio suggesting a strong predictive value for this symptom in diagnosing VM.The findings highlight increased motion sensitivity while reading in a moving vehicle as a promising diagnostic tool for VM, offering a practical aid in clinical settings to distinguish VM from other vestibular disorders.

    Keywords: vestibular migraine, motion sensitivity, diagnostic biomarkers, Dizziness, vestibular disorders, clinical diagnosis

    Received: 30 Apr 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kaski, Rova, Joffily, Carvalho and Koohi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Diego Kaski, University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.