Subjective Cognitive Symptoms and Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) Performance in Patients With Vestibular Migraine and Menière's Disease

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive symptoms in patients with vestibular disorders are far from rare, but identification of patients at risk for cognitive impairment remains poor. The Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) is a widely used patient-reported outcome questionnaire for dizzy patients with several questions that address cognitive function. However, the relationship between subjective cognitive symptomatology in patients with vestibular disorders and performance on DHI is poorly characterized. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Tertiary care vestibular clinic. SUBJECTS: Individuals with diagnoses of vestibular migraine (VM), Menière's disease (MD), and concomitant vestibular migraine and Menière's disease (VMMD) presenting to clinic between January 2007 and December 2019. RESULTS: Of 761 subjects, 365 had VM, 311 had MD, and 85 had VMMD. Symptoms of brain fog and chronic fatigue occurred more frequently in the VM and VMMD groups compared with the MD group (χ2 (df = 2, n = 761) = 67.8, 20.9, respectively, p < 0.0001). DHI scores were significantly higher in patients with VM and VMMD compared with those with MD (F[2,758] = 63.5, p < 0.001). A DHI score ≥ 13 suggested that the patient suffered from brain fog (sensitivity = 47.4%, specificity = 72.3%), whereas a score ≥ 15 indicated that the patient complained of chronic fatigue (sensitivity = 81.5%, specificity = 57.7%). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate a high prevalence of interictal cognitive symptoms in patients with episodic vestibular disorders. The DHI cannot be reliably used to differentiate between vestibular disorders nor detect cognitive impairment in these patient populations. Alternative methods must be used to identify vestibulopathic patients with cognitive symptoms to initiate strategies for prevention and treatment.