Changes of Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide and Other Serological Indicators in Vestibular Migraine Patients

Abstract Objective It aims to evaluate the diagnostic ability of CGRP and other blood indicators in vestibular migraine (VM) patients, and to explain the potential pathological effects of these biomarkers. The hypothesis of VM being a variant of migraine was examined. Methods A total of 32 VM patients, 35 migraine patients, and 30 healthy control subjects (HC) were selected for this cross-sectional study. Detailed statistics on demographic data, clinical manifestations, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and common clinical laboratory indicators were measured within 24 hours from the onset of the conditions. Receptor operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were analyzed for biomarkers. The risk factors of VM and migraine were determined through univariate and multivariate analyses. Results Compared with HC, serum CGRP levels (p (VM) = 0.012, p (Migraine) = 0.028) increased and Mg2+ levels (p (VM) < 0.001, p (Migraine) < 0.001) deceased in VM patients and migraine patients. In multiple logistic regression, VM was correlated with CGRP [odds ratio (OR) = 1.07; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02–1.12; P = 0.01] and Mg2+ [odds ratio (OR) = 0.03; 95% CI, 0.07–0.15; P < 0.001)]. Migraine was correlated with CGRP [odds ratio (OR) = 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02–1.12; P = 0.01] and Mg2+ [odd ratio (OR = 0.01; 95% CI, 0–0.02; P <0.001)]. Mg2+ discriminated good differentiation between VM and migraine groups, with AUC of 0.649 (95% CI, 0.518 to 0.780). The optimal threshold for Mg2+ to diagnose VM was 0.805. Conclusions This study demonstrated that CGRP and Mg2+ may be promising laboratory indicators to discriminate HC from VM/migraine, while Mg2+ may be uded as a discriminator between VM and migraine.