Differences in Frontal Lobe Dysfunction in Patients with Episodic and Chronic Migraine

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Neuropsychology

Background:

• Migraineurs often exhibit frontal lobe cognitive impairments.
• Orbitofrontal dysfunction is linked to migraine chronification and medication overuse headache (MOH).

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare orbitofrontal and dorsolateral cognitive function between episodic migraine (EM) and chronic migraine (CM) patients.
• To investigate the impact of MOH on cognitive function in CM patients.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving women with CM (with/without MOH), EM, and controls.
• Neuropsychological assessments included Trail Making Test (TMT) A and B, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).

Main Results:

• CM patients performed significantly worse on TMT A and B compared to EM and control groups (p < 0.01).
• CM patients showed poorer performance on the WCST compared to EM and control groups.
• No significant differences in IGT scores were observed among the groups.
• No differences in frontal lobe function were found based on the presence or absence of MOH.

Conclusions:

• Chronic migraine is associated with significant frontal lobe and dorsolateral cognitive dysfunction.
• Orbitofrontal function, as assessed by IGT, did not differ between groups.
• Medication overuse headache status did not influence the observed frontal lobe dysfunction in chronic migraine.