Clinical characteristics of sleep disorders in patients with vestibular migraine

To study and analyze the sleep quality and sleep structure of patients with vestibular migraine (VM).

In this cross-sectional case-control study, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire and polysomnography (PSG) were used to compare the clinical characteristics of sleep disorders in 49 patients with VM, 52 patients with migraine, and 54 controls.

The VM, migraine, and control groups did not significantly differ in terms of age or sex. Compared with the migraine and control groups, the VM group had a higher incidence of poor sleep quality (χ² = 36.618, p < 0.01) and greater severity of poor sleep quality (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the VM group showed reduced sleep efficiency (p < 0.01) and reduced proportions of REM and slow wave (N3) sleep (p ≤ 0.01). Conversely, sleep latency (p = 0.01) and REM latency (p = 0.04) were prolonged, and proportions of light sleep phases (N1, p < 0.05, and N2, p < 0.01) and the micro-arousal index (p = 0.03) were increased. The migraine group had significantly higher apnea hypopnea (AHI) and periodic leg movement (PLMI) indices than the VM group.

We report an effect of VM on sleep structure and an association with migraine. Similar to migraine, VM affects the sleep regulation centers and causes structural sleep disorders.