A recently published study in the British Medical Journal presents what may be relieving news for migraine sufferers. Research by Christophe Tzourio at the University Pierre et Marie Curie shows that even chronic and severe forms of migraines do not cause any damage to the brain. Interestingly, there has been research with MRI previously done, showing that those with chronic, full-on migraines are more likely to have tiny lesions to microvessels in the brain. The lesions occur when small cerebral arteries that supply blood to white matter deteriorate. The same types of lesions actually occur in elderly people, diabetics, and hypertensive people, and they are linked to depression, Alzheimer’s, stroke risk, and impaired memory. Tzourio tested cognitive abilities of over 800 senior citizens in France, of whom almost 15 percent had suffered migraines throughout their lives. No matter how debilitating the migraines, the senior citizens all had virtually indistinguishable scores. There was no cognitive damage detected by way of migraines. Thus, even with tiny lesions to brain microvessels, migraines seem to be “harmless.”
I would like to see further research done with this, because I am not sure that such a study provides significant enough evidence to confidently say that migraines do not cause cognitive damage or harm. Also, I wonder if this means that microvessel lesions are harmless? Obviously, it would be a great relief if these results are indeed true, but somehow it seems too sweeping a statement to conclude.
I agree that further research needs to be done, especially considering all the conflicting evidence that exists. Additionally, although the sample size was relatively large, 15 percent is still not a large proportion. And, it isn't clear how severe the majority of those migraines were. Therefore, I think that this study (or a similar one) should be repeated with a larger sample of individuals who had suffered severe migraines. Other studies should also be conducted exploring the function of these microvessel lesions, to see how detrimental they truly are.
ReplyDeleteThere definitely needs to be more research on this topic. I feel like migraines are such a habitual, normal part of life for some people. And, one never realizes the consequences or the implications from a tension headache or a severe migraine, and that it may have negative affects on a person's cognition. So, I would love to see more research on this topic, because more information would definitely help for a better understanding of these daily types of pains and aches that we face.
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