New research conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital concludes that migraines are not associated with cognitive decline. Researchers studied data from 6,349 women who supplied migraine history at the start of the study as well as follow-up data years later. The women were classified into four groups: no migraine history, migraine with aura, migraine without aura, and past history of migraine. Cognitive testing was done every two years for a total of six years. “Previous studies on migraines and cognitive decline were small and unable to identify a link between the two. Our study was large enough to draw the conclusion that migraines, while painful, are not strongly linked to cognitive decline,” said Pamel Rist ScD, a research fellow in the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brighham and Women’s Hospital, and lead author on the study.
When compared with women with no history of migraine, those women who had migraine with or without aura did not have notably different rates of cognitive decline. “This is an important finding for both physicians and patients. Patients with migraine and their treating doctors should be reassured that migraine may not have long term consequences on cognitive function,” said Rist. This study is published online by the British Medical Journal…… Medical News Today 8/14/12