Key Points
• Source: BMC Neurology
• Conclusion: “Older age, longer disease duration, frequent attacks, and high serum homocysteine level are main the risk factors for WMHs in this cohort. The severity or duration of migraine attacks did not increase the frequency of WMHs. The number of WMHs was significantly higher in chronic compared to episodic migraineurs.”
• In the current cross-sectional study, researchers included 60 male and female migraine patients aged between 18 and 55 years, as well as a matched control group that experienced no migraines.
• The investigators found that migraine patients with white matter hyperintensities were older. Of note, WMH occurs frequently in the general population and they appear with aging.
• Gender was not a risk factor for WMH in migraine. WMH were more common in patients with aura. WMHs were correlated with longer durations of migraine.
• In the current study, there was a correlation between increased serum homocysteine levels and WMH occurrence. WMHs are located subcortically and in the frontal lobes.
• WMHs were linked to high MIDAS and HIT6 scores in migraine patients.
• WMH are commonly observed in headache clinics and are linked to olde age, longer disease duration, and frequent migraine attaches.
• “Awareness of high prevalence of WMHs among migraine patients to avoid misdiagnosis of other diseases that can affect the white matter of the brain and common in the same age group and gender like for example multiple sclerosis,” wrote the authors.
• A strength of the study was that neuroradiologists were blinded to the clinical data collected. Limitations of the current study include its cross-sectional design and the use of prophylactic migraine treatment that could have affected headache duration and intensity, which were WMH risk factors.