Do migraines cause brain damage?

Main Category: Headache / Migraine
Article Date: 28 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Researchers in Holland have identified brain lesions in migraine sufferers. This could mean that the migraine is a progressive brain-damaging disease (sometimes).

The study was carried out on 295 volunteers (aged 30-60). They were all migraine sufferers - some with visual disturbance during their attacks and some without. These people were compared to 140 people who never had migraines (but were otherwise similar to the migraine-suffering group).

Using MRIs, the researchers found that the migraine sufferers who also had visual problems during their bouts were 13 times more likely to have cerebral infarction (tissue which died due to lack of oxygen when a blood clot blocks an artery).

They also found that sufferers who had more regular attacks had an even higher risk.

Migraine sufferers who did not have the visual problems during their attacks had seven times the risk (in comparison to the non-migraine group).

They found that the problem was taking place in the cerebellar region of the brain (controls motor motions).

Women are three times more likely to suffer from migraines than men. Migraines affect about 10% of the population.