Effects of Lifestyle Modification on Vestibular Migraine

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate effects of lifestyle modification on symptoms of dizziness and headache in patients diagnosed with definite vestibular migraine.

Study design: Prospective within-participants repeated-measures study.

Setting: Otolaryngology tertiary care.

Participants: Twenty-eight adults with definite vestibular migraine who were willing to be treated without pharmacological intervention.

Interventions: Information and instructions were provided on lifestyle modification; participants were instructed to improve restful sleep, exercise, eat at regulated mealtimes, and avoid dietary triggers. Participants were asked to maintain the modifications for at least 60 days.

Main outcome measures: Two self-report inventories were used pre- and post-intervention to evaluate participants' perceived dizziness handicap and headache disability using the Dizziness Handicap Inventory and Headache Disability Inventory, respectively. Questions were also used to evaluate the extent to which participants reported compliance with lifestyle factors pre- and post-intervention.

Results: Significant improvement was observed after the lifestyle intervention with mean improvements in Dizziness Handicap Inventory and Headache Disability Inventory of 14.3 points. As a group, improvement in restful sleep was related to improvement in both dizziness and headache symptoms. At the individual participant level, 39% and 18% of participants reported significant reduction in dizziness handicap and headache disability, respectively.

Conclusions: Lifestyle modifications are an effective intervention for symptoms of dizziness and headache in participants with definite vestibular migraine. Participants who reported a larger increase in restful sleep were more likely to also report larger improvements in dizziness handicap and headache disability. Effect sizes using the current intervention were comparable or better than some reported pharmacological interventions but less than others. Our lifestyle modification intervention produced significant improvement in dizziness for a larger percentage of individual participants and in headache for a similar percentage of participants compared to data reported with other lifestyle modification interventions. Lifestyle modifications, especially restful sleep, have the potential to reduce the impact of vestibular migraine on patients' lives, with limited risk.Clinical Trials Registration: NCT03979677.