Conforto A, Lois L, Amaro Jr E, Paes A, Ecker C, Young W, Gamarra L, Peres M.
Instituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert Einstein, São Paulo, Brazil.
Conforto AB, Lois LA, Amaro E Jr, Paes AT, Ecker C, Young WB, Gamarra LF & Peres MFP. Migraine and motion sickness independently contribute to visual discomfort. Cephalalgia 2009. London. ISSN 0333-1024.
The objective of this study was to evaluate, in patients with migraine and healthy volunteers, with and without a history of motion sickness, the degree of discomfort elicited by drifting striped patterns. Eighteen healthy volunteers (HV) and 30 migraine patients participated in the study. Discomfort was greater in migraine patients than in HV, and in individuals with a history of motion sickness than in those without, but the effect of history of migraine was independent of history of motion sickness. Generalized Estimating Equations models for binary correlated data revealed that these differences did not depend on levels of duty cycle, spatial and temporal frequencies. Visual discomfort in migraine patients was associated with worse performance. There was a significant correlation between median degree of discomfort across conditions and number of migraine attacks in the past month. Discomfort to drifting striped patterns may be related to central sensitization in migraine patients.
Conforto AB et al. – Discomfort to drifting striped patterns may be related to central sensitization in migraine pts.
Methods
- Study of degree of discomfort elicited by drifting striped patterns in 30 migraine pts with and 18 healthy volunteers (HV), with/without history of motion sickness
- Generalized Estimating Equations models for binary correlated data
Results
- Greater discomfort in migraine pts than in HV
- Greater discomfort in pts with vs without motion sickness history
- Effect of history of migraine independent of history of motion sickness
- Differences did not depend on levels of duty cycle, spatial, and temporal frequencies
- Visual discomfort in migraine pts associated with worse performance
- Significant correlation between median degree of discomfort across conditions and number of migraine attacks in past month