Migraine may improve memory

Last updated: Tuesday, April 24, 2007

There may be a silver lining to the dark cloud of migraines: improved
memory.

US researchers have found that women with a history of migraines had
less cognitive decline as they aged than women who didn’t have the
debilitating headaches.

"This was a complete surprise," noted study author Amanda Kalaydjian,
a research fellow at the US National Institute of Mental Health. "We
found that people with migraines, specifically people with migraines
with aura – which is even more counterintuitive – didn’t even decline
over time at all."

Kalaydjian’s team published its finding in the April 24 issue of
Neurology.Her research was conducted while a doctoral student at Johns
Hopkins Schoolof Public Health.

It’s very surprising
Other experts were similarly surprised by the finding.

"It’s very surprising to me that this risk factor would appear to be
protective," said Dr Richard Lipton, director of the Montefiore
Headache Centre. "But this is the best longitudinal data we have on
migraine, so I am left feeling cautiously optimistic."

Migraines are a particularly severe form of headache. They often occur
on one side of the head and can involve visual disturbances ("aura"),
sensitivity to light, nausea and vomiting. Migraines can last hours or
days.

Cause remains unclear
The headaches’ causes remain elusive, although dietary and food
factors, such as red wine, may play a role for some
people. Researchers in Philadelphiaare even looking into whether a
common heart defect may play a role in migraine for some individuals.

Thus far, the evidence on migraines and cognitive functioning had been
mixed. Some studies found no association and some found that people
with migraines ("migraineurs") actually performed less well in tasks
involving attention, verbal ability and memory.

"Some [previous studies] showed deficiencies in people with migraines
and some didn’t, but there were a lot of problems with past studies
because they were very small or clinic-based," Kalaydjian said. "It’s
hard to generalise."

There have been virtually no studies that looked at people over time,
she added.

This study involved 1 448 women, 204 of who suffered migraines. All
women underwent a series of cognitive tests beginning in 1993 and
again about 12 years later.

All of the affected women also had a long history of migraines. "Our
thinking was . . . maybe, over time, migraines might result in these
subtle insults to the brain," Kalaydjian explained. Scientists have
hypothesised that migraine attacks might have a cumulative effect of
damage to the brain.

Less decline in migraine sufferers
The study didn’t show that, however. Migraineurs did perform worse on
cognitive tests (such as word recall) at the beginning of the study,
but over thecourse of the entire study their performance actually
declined 17 percent less overall than women without migraine.

Women over 50 who had migraines showed the least amount of cognitive
decline, the researchers noted.

It’s unclear why such a discrepancy would exist but Kalaydjian says
certainmedication and lifestyle characteristics of migraine sufferers
might be worth exploring.

"People with migraines tend to stay away from alcohol, so we might
have people that drink less and sleep more, because lack of sleep
results in more headaches," she said. "They might take more vitamins
and supplements because they’re more health-conscious."

There’s also some research suggesting that non-aspirin NSAID
(non-steroidalanti-inflammatory drug) pain relievers might help boost
cognition. "People with migraines tend to self-medicate," Kalaydjian
said.

The first next step, however, is to try to replicate the findings.

"One study isn’t enough but it lays the groundwork for future
studies," Kalaydjian said. "It brings up the point that maybe this is
something that should be looked into, maybe there’s a beneficial side
effect of having this pain." – (HealthDayNews)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress