Co-morbidity of migraine and Ménière's disease -- is allergy the link?

This study determined the prevalence of migraine and allergy in patients with Ménière's disease (MD) compared with age- and sex-matched controls. We tested the hypothesis that if migraine and MD is linked by allergy, then allergy should be more prevalent in patients with MD and migraine compared with MD patients without migraine. A web-based questionnaire was used to recruit patients with MD (n = 108) while the control group consisted of patients attending the ENT clinic for other problems (n = 100). The prevalence of migraine and allergy was significantly higher in patients with MD compared with age- and sex-matched controls (p > or = 0.005). In addition, the prevalence of allergy was significantly higher in patients who had both MD and migraine (30/42) than MD alone (26/66,p = 0.002). However, there was no link with any specific allergy types. This study suggests that migraine and MD may be linked by an immunological determinant.