A new study shows that middle-aged women who had migraine headaches with aura had a higher prevalence of brain lesions when older. Recent studies suggest migraine attacks may be associated with brain lesions identified on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), particularly in the cerebellum, according to background information in the article.
Ann I. Scher, Ph.D., and colleagues examined the relationship of midlife migraine symptoms and late-life infarct (tissue death)-like lesions evident on MRI. The study included 4,689 men and women in Reykjavik, Iceland who were followed-up since 1967, examined, and interviewed about migraine symptoms in midlife.
Between 2002 and 2006, more than 26 years later, brain MRIs were performed. Participants reporting headaches once or more per month were asked about migraine symptoms and were classified as having migraine without aura, migraine with aura, or nonmigraine headache. A comprehensive cardiovascular risk assessment was performed at examinations. Infarct-like lesions were present on MRI in 39.3 percent of men and 24.6 percent of women.
After adjusting for age, sex, and follow-up time, participants with midlife migraine with aura were at increased risk for total infarct-like lesions. Lesions in the cerebellum, but not in other locations of the brain, were more prevalent in women with migraine with aura compared with women without headache however, there was no difference in prevalence for men.
The relationship between migraine with aura and cerebellar infarcts was only significant in women, but was not statistically different by the age at which headache symptoms were assessed. Migraine without aura and nonmigraine headache were not associated with an increased risk of lesions.
“In summary, this study suggests that a remote history of migraine with aura is associated with brain lesions commonly found in older populations. Results persisted after controlling for cardiovascular risk factors and history of cardiovascular disease, thus suggesting that the mechanism linking the migraine aura with these lesions is independent of the usual risk factors for ischemic vascular disease and may be specifically related to migraine with aura…The clinical implications of the infarct-like lesions identified have not been established and will require investigation,” says the authors.
Adapted from a journal article provided by Jama and Archives.