Brain lesions linked to migraine
POSTED June 26, 2009 - 18:41 | POSTED BY Jyoti Pal
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on June 26, 2009 - 19:55
An aura, experienced by some migraine sufferers before a migraine headache, often manifests as the discernment of a strange light, a repulsive smell or perplexing thoughts or experiences.
The study
For the purpose of the study, 4,689 men and women in Iceland, with an average age of 51, were investigated. The study essentially entailed an analysis of the link between midlife migraines and brain lesions that occur at a later stage in life.
The participants were interviewed about migraine symptoms at the start of the study and their brains were scanned after 26 years.
The findings
Brain lesions were found in over one-third of the men and in a quarter of the women.
After controlling factors like age, stroke risk, and heart disease, researchers established that females who suffered from migraines with aura during midlife had a higher chance of developing brain lesions in the cerebellum of the brain.
No such relationship between migraine with aura and brain lesions was established in men. The present study highlights the fact that migraines may be much more than just an ephemeral condition.
Lenore Launer, chief of the neuroepidemiology section of the Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography and Biometry at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, said, “The importance of this study is it suggests that migraines are not just an episodic condition. It may lead to long-term changes in the brain. At this point there's no real clinical message for people with migraines."
Dr. Tobias Kurth, Sc.D., of the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School said it would be "premature to conclude that migraine has hazardous effects on the brain".
He added, “The lesions are clinically silent; it is absolutely unclear if they are harmful. Based on current knowledge, they are not."
The study was conducted by U.S. researchers from the Uniformed Services University, in Bethesda, Maryland, and the National Institute on Aging along with the Icelandic Heart Association in Reykjavik and has been published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
