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Best practice
What I’ve learnt from European Journal of Paediatric Neurology Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood is a precursor of migraine Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood (BPVC) is the most common cause of vertigo in children between 2 and 6 years of age. It’s a rare disorder in childhood with the estimated prevalence of around 2.6% in the children between 5 and 15 years of age, with many cases not properly diagnosed. It’s long been considered as an equivalent to migraine. This is the first long-term follow-up study of 27 patients for at least 15 years, which has demonstrated higher prevalence of migraine in patients who had been diagnosed with BPVC in childhood leading to the proposal that BPVC is a precursor of migraine.1 CONCLUSIONS ▸ BPVC is characterised by short and sudden attacks of vertigo and imbalance, with no aura and with nystagmus. Due to its short duration and since children often close their eyes, nystagmus is difficult to establish. ▸ Imbalance may persist for few minutes to even some hours. ▸ Characteristically, these vertigo attacks are not associated with hearing loss. ▸ In between the episodes, both neurological and vestibular tests are normal. ▸ BPVC usually spontaneously disappears at 10–12 years of age. ▸ The prevalence of migraine in adults in the group which was diagnosed with BPVC during childhood was three times higher than the general population (33.4% vs 12.6%) Manish Prasad Correspondence to Dr Manish Prasad, Paediatrics, Pinderfield General Hospital, Wakefield WF1 4DG, UK; [email protected]
Competing interests None. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
To cite Prasad M. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2014;99:165. Received 15 October 2013 Accepted 4 December 2013 Published Online First 15 January 2014 Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2014;99:165. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2013-305458
REFERENCE 1 Batuecas-Caletrío Á, Martín-Sánchez V, Cordero-Civantos C, et al. Is Benign Paroxysmal Vertigo of Childhood (BPVC) a precursor of migraine? Eur J Paediatric Neurol 2013;17:397–400.
Varughese R, et al. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2014;99:162–165. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2013-305531
165
Downloaded from ep.bmj.com on October 13, 2014 - Published by group.bmj.com
Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood is a precursor of migraine Manish Prasad Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2014 99: 165 originally published online January 15, 2014
doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2013-305458
Updated information and services can be found at: http://ep.bmj.com/content/99/5/165.full.html
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This article cites 1 articles http://ep.bmj.com/content/99/5/165.full.html#ref-list-1
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Best practice
What I’ve learnt from European Journal of Paediatric Neurology Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood is a precursor of migraine Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood (BPVC) is the most common cause of vertigo in children between 2 and 6 years of age. It’s a rare disorder in childhood with the estimated prevalence of around 2.6% in the children between 5 and 15 years of age, with many cases not properly diagnosed. It’s long been considered as an equivalent to migraine. This is the first long-term follow-up study of 27 patients for at least 15 years, which has demonstrated higher prevalence of migraine in patients who had been diagnosed with BPVC in childhood leading to the proposal that BPVC is a precursor of migraine.1 CONCLUSIONS ▸ BPVC is characterised by short and sudden attacks of vertigo and imbalance, with no aura and with nystagmus. Due to its short duration and since children often close their eyes, nystagmus is difficult to establish. ▸ Imbalance may persist for few minutes to even some hours. ▸ Characteristically, these vertigo attacks are not associated with hearing loss. ▸ In between the episodes, both neurological and vestibular tests are normal. ▸ BPVC usually spontaneously disappears at 10–12 years of age. ▸ The prevalence of migraine in adults in the group which was diagnosed with BPVC during childhood was three times higher than the general population (33.4% vs 12.6%) Manish Prasad Correspondence to Dr Manish Prasad, Paediatrics, Pinderfield General Hospital, Wakefield WF1 4DG, UK; [email protected]
Competing interests None. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
To cite Prasad M. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2014;99:165. Received 15 October 2013 Accepted 4 December 2013 Published Online First 15 January 2014 Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2014;99:165. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2013-305458
REFERENCE 1 Batuecas-Caletrío Á, Martín-Sánchez V, Cordero-Civantos C, et al. Is Benign Paroxysmal Vertigo of Childhood (BPVC) a precursor of migraine? Eur J Paediatric Neurol 2013;17:397–400.
Varughese R, et al. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2014;99:162–165. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2013-305531
165
Downloaded from ep.bmj.com on October 13, 2014 - Published by group.bmj.com
Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood is a precursor of migraine Manish Prasad Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2014 99: 165 originally published online January 15, 2014
doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2013-305458
Updated information and services can be found at: http://ep.bmj.com/content/99/5/165.full.html
These include:
References
This article cites 1 articles http://ep.bmj.com/content/99/5/165.full.html#ref-list-1
Email alerting service
Topic Collections
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Articles on similar topics can be found in the following collections Drugs: CNS (not psychiatric) (51 articles) Ear, nose and throat/otolaryngology (34 articles) Headache (including migraine) (20 articles) Child health (267 articles) Competing interests (ethics) (33 articles) Epidemiologic studies (81 articles) Journalology (42 articles)
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions
To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform
To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
