Vestibular Migraine Patient Assessment Tool and Handicap Inventory (VM-PATHI) : A narrative review

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Otolaryngology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Vestibular migraine (VM) presents diverse symptoms impacting quality of life.
• No objective diagnostic tests or severity measures currently exist for VM.
• Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), like the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), are primary assessment tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current knowledge on the Vestibular Migraine Patient Assessment Tool and Handicap Inventory (VM-PATHI).
• To evaluate VM-PATHI as a novel PROM for assessing VM severity and impact.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature search of Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar up to February 2024.
• Keywords included "Vestibular migraine," "VM-PATHI," and "Patient-Reported Outcome Measure."
• Included studies focused on human participants and evaluated VM-PATHI's utility in VM patients.

Main Results:

• VM-PATHI is a 25-item questionnaire assessing headache, motion sensitivity, anxiety, cognition, disequilibrium, and emotion.
• The tool demonstrates strong validity (face, content, discriminant), reliability (test-retest, internal), and responsiveness.
• A decrease of ≥6 points in VM-PATHI scores indicates likely clinical improvement in VM symptoms.

Conclusions:

• VM-PATHI offers a broader assessment of VM's disease-specific effects compared to other PROMs.
• VM-PATHI scores correlate with DHI, monthly dizzy days, and other quality of life indicators.
• This tool aids in evaluating VM severity and treatment response.