Vestibular migraine (VM) is a common disorder in vertigo clinics, but its diagnosis remains challenging because of symptom overlap with other conditions and the lack of widely accepted objective biomarkers. This exploratory cross-sectional case-control study aimed to characterize the clinical features of VM, examine clinical and serum factors associated with VM case status, and assess the apparent ability of serum...
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Identified biomarker candidates are exploratory and not yet validated for clinical use — no actionable change to current differential diagnosis practice.
Vestibular migraine is frequently misdiagnosed or conflated with Ménière's disease and other vestibular disorders; reliable biomarkers would be a significant diagnostic advance for audiologists and neurotologists.
- 01Cross-sectional case-control design published in Frontiers in Neurology (doi: 10.3389/fneur.2026.1929972).
- 02Focuses on exploratory serum (blood) biomarkers to differentiate vestibular migraine from overlapping conditions.
- 03Clinical characteristics of vestibular migraine patients were also described in detail.
- 04Biomarker findings are preliminary and require prospective validation in larger cohorts.
- 05Differential diagnosis of vestibular migraine remains a major clinical challenge.
Specific serum biomarkers may help differentiate vestibular migraine from overlapping vestibular conditions.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42718684
- DOI
- 10.3389/fneur.2026.1929972.
- Journal
- Frontiers in Neurology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 3
- Population
- Adults with vestibular migraine compared to control groups with overlapping vestibular conditions
- Intervention
- Serum biomarker profiling and clinical characterization
- Comparator
- Controls without vestibular migraine (case-control design)
Primary outcomes
Serum biomarker levels; Clinical characteristics distinguishing vestibular migraine