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Updated: May 18, 2026

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Published on: June 2, 2014
Transient visual disturbances in adolescents: migrainous feature or headache-accompanied phenomenon?
Hung-Yu Liu1, Jong-Ling Fuh, Shiang-Ru Lu
1Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taoyuan Branch, #201 Shi-Pai Road Section 2, Taipei, Taiwan.
Objectives:
To investigate the prevalence, characteristics and clinical correlates of transient visual disturbances (TVDs) in adolescents with headaches.
Methods:
We surveyed headache-related TVDs in the past three months in two middle schools. All the ninth-grade students filled-in the questionnaires including demographics, a validated headache questionnaire, and visual phenomenon questions embedding the Visual Aura Rating Scale (VARS). TVDs were defined as transient visual phenomena corresponding to a headache attack, but not visual aura, i.e. VARS
Results:
Six hundred and sixty-three adolescents (341 boys and 322 girls; mean age 15.1 ± 0.3 years old) participated in this study. In subjects reporting at least one headache during the past three months (N = 371), 33.4% reported TVDs, which accounted for 18.7% in total participants. TVDs were described mainly as flickering lights or scotoma, movable, monochromatic, occurring over bilateral visual fields, developing and lasting <30 seconds, and experienced during the headache phase. Subjects with migraines reported a higher frequency of TVDs than those with non-migraine headaches (67.1% vs. 31.2%, p < 0.001). TVDs were independently associated with photophobia (OR = 12.6, p < 0.001) and pulsatile headache (OR = 2.1, p = 0.012).
Conclusions:
The major features of TVDs were distinguishable from visual aura. TVDs were common in adolescents with headaches, especially in migraineurs.
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