Migraine headaches: a lot of people get them, some more than others. Women tend to get migraines more often than men and with these migraines, women tend to develop non-dangerous brain lesions. But don’t worry, there is good news. These tiny damaged areas do not seem to affect a person’s cognitive ability.
Research scientists have reported that women who have migraine headaches have a greater chance of showing more bright spots (indicating lesions) on their MRI than men and women who have no history of migraine headaches. The apparent absence of cognitive difficulty is proving that these lesions do not affect cognitive learning abilities. Scientists have known for many years that these changes exist and this nine year study is the first of its kind to provide long-term follow-up looking for associated risk.
ABOUT THE STUDY
The study, which took place in 2000, involved Dutch patients. For it, 285 men and women who suffered migraine and the140 sex and age matched counterpart control group (men and women without migraine) where enrolled in the “Cerebral Abnormalities in Migraine, and Epidemiological Risk Analysis” study. The study showed that people who have migraine headaches were more likely to have abnormalities on their MRIs than those who don’t. This led scientists to believe that there may be negative effects from migraines over time.
In the study, researchers caught up with 286 subjects nine years later and performed follow-up MRIs to check for changes in the white matter, brain stem, and cerebellum that had appeared as bright spots on the subjects previous MRIs done nine years ago. They also asked how often the subjects had migraines and whether they had any other health issues that could affect the brain like diabetes, smoking, and high blood pressure.
Overall, women who had migraines were twice as likely as men to have changes in the volume of wide spread white matter. In fact, 77 percent of women had more lesions, than the 60 percent from the control group. The men showed no differences. Still, it is a small increase and therefore likely considered clinically insignificant.
There was also no correlation between the number of migraines and the amount of lesions. This may suggest that migraines do not cause the lesions but are a result of a continuous action of people who have migraines. Brain function tests revealed no significant differences between those with migraines and those without.
Researchers indicate that other factors may be the cause of brain lesions like diabetes, age, and hypertension. They mention that changes in the small blood vessels may be the culprit behind the lesions and that it would be a good idea to change other risk factors which include obesity, smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, and physical inactivity.
Although the lesions are there, no need to worry about cognitive damage. However, other factors may play a role in the lesions that need to be addressed. But as far as the migraines are concerned, you still have your cognitive abilities ladies, so treat those migraines and watch for triggers to your migraines – you go girls!
Tags: headaches, migraine attacks, migraine treatment, Migraines, side effects, symptoms, treating migraines, vascular headachce
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