Migraine and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: a single-institution review

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and migraine-associated dizziness are common. The prevalence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo seems to be higher in patients with migraine-associated dizziness than in those without migraine.

A database of 508 patients seen at the primary author's balance clinic was analysed to determine the prevalence of migraine, as defined by International Headache Society criteria, in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

The percentage of patients with dizziness or vertigo who met criteria for migraine was 33.7 per cent, with a prevalence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo of 42.3 per cent. When excluding patients with migrainous vertigo, patients with migraine frequently had benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (66.7 per cent vs 55.8 per cent), although this finding was not statistically significant.

The results for the entire sample suggest that, after excluding patients with migrainous vertigo, patients with migraine seem more likely to have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo; however, this association was not significant, probably because of the small sample size.