Similarity of vertigo attacks due to Meniere's disease and benign recurrent vertigo, both with and without migraine.

CONCLUSION

Vertigo attacks in patients with benign recurrent vertigo (BRV) cannot be distinguished from those in patients with Meniere's disease on the basis of duration, triggers or associated symptoms (other than auditory). A subset of BRV is associated with migraine.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether clinical features of vertigo attacks can distinguish patients with BRV from those with Meniere's disease and whether subtypes of BRV can be identified.

METHODS

A structured interview was used to analyze features in patients with BRV, i.e. those who have normal audiograms and caloric test results even though they have had recurrent vertigo (n = 63). A group of patients with definite Meniere's disease (n = 112) served as the comparison group.

RESULTS

Compared with the Meniere's disease group, patients with BRV had a female preponderance, earlier age of onset, and increased incidence of migraine headaches (IHS criteria). With regard to the vertigo attacks, duration tended to be shorter in patients with BRV but there was a large overlap in the duration of attacks between the two groups. Triggers (stress/emotional upset, fatigue, menstrual periods) and associated symptoms (imbalance, nausea and vomiting, headache, sensitivity to light) were not significantly different in the two groups.