Correlating Vestibular Migraine Patient Assessment Tool and Handicap Inventory to Daily Dizziness Symptoms

OBJECTIVE: Investigate the relationship between Vestibular Migraine Patient Assessment Tool and Handicap Inventory (VM-PATHI) scores and daily dizziness symptoms. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort analysis of 52 patients with vestibular migraine (VM). SETTING: Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS: Fifty-two patients diagnosed with VM or probable VM according to Barany Society criteria. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects reported their dizzy symptoms (on a scale of 0 [no symptoms], 1 [mild], 2 [moderate], and 3 [severe]) every day for 1 month via automated text messaging linked to a cloud-based research database. Subjects completed VM-PATHI and Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) scores at the end of the month. We examined the correlation between a composite of daily dizziness scores with VM-PATHI and DHI scores through linear regression and correlation analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pearson correlation coefficient, R2 value. RESULTS: VM-PATHI showed a moderate correlation with daily dizziness symptoms (correlation coefficient, 0.51). DHI showed a lower correlation with daily dizziness (correlation coefficient, 0.38). VM-PATHI score was a strong predictor of daily dizziness with univariate linear regression ( R2 = 0.26, p = 0.001). In a multiple linear regression model with age, history of anxiety and/or depression, and VM-PATHI, the VM-PATHI score was the only statistically significant predictor of daily dizziness ( p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Daily dizziness symptoms are better correlated with VM-PATHI score than the DHI, providing further validation of VM-PATHI as a disease-specific outcome measure for patients with VM.