The following is a summary of “Correlation between migraine and cerebral small vessel disease: A case–control study,” published in the November 2023 issue of Pain by Zhang et al.

Migraine’s potential link to brain blood vessel damage cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) requires further investigation due to past research limitations regarding image features and potential confounding factors.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study using a wider range of image features and a more rigorous methodology to definitively assess the relationship between migraine and CSVD.

They carried out a case–control study, enrolling young individuals experiencing episodic migraines from a tertiary headache center, with tension-type headaches (TTH) and including healthy controls. Distinctive image features were evaluated related to microvascular damage and baseline characteristics among the groups and conducted multivariate linear regression to assess the risk factors for image abnormalities in individuals with migraines.

The results showed 48 individuals with migraines, 32 with TTH, and 49 healthy controls. The median age was 32 years. 58.7% of the participants were females. In migraineurs, the Scheltens score and volume of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), as well as the number of Virchow–Robin spaces (VRSs) in both migraineurs and TTHs, differed from those in normal controls. No lacunar infarct-like lesions (ILLs) or cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) were detected. Independent risk factors for Scheltens score and volume of WMH in migraineurs included age, education level (high level: β = −2.23, lobar WMHs), attack duration (long duration: β = 3.81, lobar WMHs), and attack frequency. The correlation with the number of VRSs was observed for migraine aura (β = −2.389), attack frequency, and education level.

They concluded that migraineurs had more brain blood vessel damage linked to aura, attack duration, frequency, age, and education.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejp.2199