Relationship between migraine headache and hematological parameters.

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Immunology
• Hematology

Background:

• Migraine is a common neurological disorder with unclear pathophysiology.
• Inflammation is increasingly implicated in migraine pathogenesis.
• Hematological parameters and inflammatory ratios are potential biomarkers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate hematological parameters and inflammatory ratios (NLR, PLR, LMR, NMR) in migraine patients.
• To compare these markers between migraineurs and healthy controls.
• To explore differences based on migraine with aura (MWA) and migraine without aura (MWOA).

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of 250 migraine patients and 215 healthy controls.
• Analysis of hematological parameters, C-reactive protein (CRP), and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte/monocyte ratio (LMR), and neutrophil/monocyte ratio (NMR).
• Comparison of markers between patient and control groups, and subgroups (MWA, MWOA).

Main Results:

• Neutrophil/monocyte ratio (NMR) was significantly higher in MWA patients compared to controls.
• CRP, PLR, and NMR were significantly higher in MWOA patients versus controls.
• Platelet count and mean platelet volume (MPV) were higher in migraine patients but not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

• Elevated inflammatory markers, particularly NMR, suggest systemic inflammation in migraine.
• Findings support the presence of a continuous inflammatory process in migraine patients, even outside of attacks.
• Further research is needed to elucidate the pathophysiology and guide treatment.