Study: No Link Between Migraine and Silent Brain Infarcts
In a new, cross-sectional study, Danish researchers found no evidence to link silent brain infarcts and migraines with aura.
Noting that a small number of population-based studies have reported an association between migraine with aura and risk of silent brain infarcts and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in females, investigators identified 172 women between the ages of 30 and 60 years old who suffered from migraines with aura, and a control group of 139 unrelated women with no migraine. All of the participants, who were selected from the Danish Twin Registry, underwent MRI brain imaging at the same center. In addition to the aforementioned participants, 34 co-twins were also scanned. In contrast to their participating twin sisters, these 34 co-twins did not suffer from migraine with aura.
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Migraine Associated With Structural Brain Changes
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There was little difference between the 2 groups with regard to the frequency of silent brain infarcts (4 in the case group versus 1 in the control group), periventricular white matter hyperintensity scores, or deep white matter hyperintensity scores. Women with migraine had a “slightly higher” total white matter hyperintensity volume compared with controls, the authors wrote.
The results “indicate that migraine with aura is not associated with an increased risk of silent brain infarcts, or white matter hyperintensities,” says David Gaist, MD, PhD, a professor in the department of neurology at Odense University Hospital in Denmark, and lead author of the study.
Gaist and his co-authors “hope that patients and their physicians will find this information reassuring,” he adds. “Importantly, in patients with this type of headache, where MRI discloses silent infarcts and WMH, clinicians should diligently seek for other risk factors than migraine with aura.”
—Mark McGraw
Reference:
Gaist D, Garde E, Blaabjerg M, et al. Migraine with aura and risk of silent brain infarcts and white matter hyperintensities: an MRI study [published online May 2, 2016]. Brain. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/aww099