Is palinopsia in migraineurs an enhanced physiological phenomenon?

Abstract

Background We report the occurrence of palinopsia in patients with migraine and its correlation with migraine characteristics, triggers and allodynia. Methods This study included 153 consecutive patients with migraine and recorded their clinical details, including allodynia and migraine triggers and characteristics. Palinopsia was evaluated in migraineurs and 101 controls by using a questionnaire and a novel method. Results According to the questionnaire assessment, 9.8% migraineurs had palinopsia. According to the novel method, 57.5% of migraineurs and 12% of controls had palinopsia. Migraineurs most frequently had palinopsia to red color (51.6%), followed by yellow (49.7%), blue (47.7%), green (46.4%) and the least to white (30.7%). A similar pattern with a lesser frequency was noted in controls. The duration of palinopsia was longer in migraineurs than in controls (32.68 ± 20.24 vs. 5.92 ± 4.55 seconds; p < 0.001). Migraineurs with palinopsia differed from those without in terms of noise as a migraine trigger ( p < 0.001) and allodynia as a migraine-associated phenomenon ( p = 0.03). In multivariable analysis, predictors of palinopsia were the frequency ( p = 0.003) and severity ( p = 0.04) of headache and the presence of headache during examination ( p = 0.0001). Conclusion Migraineurs had a pattern of palinopsia to different colors that was similar to the controls, but the palinopsia of migraineurs was more frequent and of longer duration, especially during headaches.