Migraine sufferers keep their marbles later in life

Researchers in the United States are suggesting that women who have suffered a lifetime of migraine experience have less cognitive decline than women without migraine.

The researchers suspect that anti-migraine medications, as well as diet and behavior changes, may play a role in the apparent protective effect of migraine on cognition.

A large group of women taking part in the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study were examined in an attempt to discover the relationship between migraine headaches and cognitive functioning.

Of the group of 1,448 women, 204 had migraine; all underwent a series of cognitive tests beginning in 1993 and again approximately 12 years later.

The researchers found while the migraine sufferers performed worse on cognitive tests, such as word recall, at the beginning of the study, their performance declined 17 percent less over time than women without migraine.

The women over age 50 with migraine also showed the least amount of cognitive decline on a test used to assess cognitive functioning.

The research team led by Dr. Amanda Kalaydjian of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore say the migraineurs scored lower on tests of immediate and delayed memory at the beginning of the study, but their performance declined significantly less over time compared with that of the nonmigraineurs.

Dr. Kalaydjian says some medications for migraine headaches, such as ibuprofen, may have a protective effect on the memory and may be partially responsible for the findings, but adjustments in diet or behavior might also have had an impact and in some way improve cognition.

Alternative treatments for migraine often includes adequate sleep, along with behavioral and relaxation techniques, and a reduction in caffeine.

The researchers believe it is more likely however that some underlying biological mechanism, such as changes in blood vessels or underlying differences in brain activity, causes the decreased cognitive decline over time and say more research is needed to fully understand how migraine affects cognition.

The study is published in the current edition of Neurology, April 24, 2007.