Migraine a Risk Factor for Dementia?
Good morning. I am Christoph Diener, a neurologist from the University of Essen in Germany. Today's topic is migraine and cognitive decline. People, particularly women, who have severe migraine with aura sometimes show white-matter lesions on MRI. Some of them even show silent infarction. The big question is: Is migraine with aura or any migraine a risk factor for vascular dementia later on?
This topic was addressed by a study that was recently published by the Harvard group in the British Medical Journal. They took data from the Women's Health Study, which was initiated in 1992 and recruited almost 40,000 women who worked in the healthcare system. Originally, this was a randomized trial that looked at the efficacy of aspirin or vitamin E compared with placebo in preventing vascular events or cancer. Now, for this subgroup analysis, 6349 women were recruited. They underwent cognitive testing, which was repeated every 2 years up to 3 times. The good news for everyone who suffers from migraines is that the cognitive status of women who had migraine with aura, migraine without aura, or history of migraine was not different from women who didn't have migraine. There was also no difference in cognitive decline between women with migraine and the control group. So overall, the good news is that migraine is not a risk factor for cognitive decline or dementia. This also means that the T2-weighted imaging changes that we sometimes see in patients who have migraine with aura are not dangerous. Nevertheless, we should advise women who have severe migraine with aura that they should address vascular risk factors if they are present, such as stopping smoking or treating hypertension.
Good morning. I am Christoph Diener, a neurologist from the University of Essen in Germany. Today's topic is migraine and cognitive decline. People, particularly women, who have severe migraine with aura sometimes show white-matter lesions on MRI. Some of them even show silent infarction. The big question is: Is migraine with aura or any migraine a risk factor for vascular dementia later on?
This topic was addressed by a study that was recently published by the Harvard group in the British Medical Journal. They took data from the Women's Health Study, which was initiated in 1992 and recruited almost 40,000 women who worked in the healthcare system. Originally, this was a randomized trial that looked at the efficacy of aspirin or vitamin E compared with placebo in preventing vascular events or cancer. Now, for this subgroup analysis, 6349 women were recruited. They underwent cognitive testing, which was repeated every 2 years up to 3 times. The good news for everyone who suffers from migraines is that the cognitive status of women who had migraine with aura, migraine without aura, or history of migraine was not different from women who didn't have migraine. There was also no difference in cognitive decline between women with migraine and the control group. So overall, the good news is that migraine is not a risk factor for cognitive decline or dementia. This also means that the T2-weighted imaging changes that we sometimes see in patients who have migraine with aura are not dangerous. Nevertheless, we should advise women who have severe migraine with aura that they should address vascular risk factors if they are present, such as stopping smoking or treating hypertension.