Patients with episodic migraine without aura have an increased rate of delayed discounting

This study aimed to explore decision-making impulsivity and its neural mechanisms in patients with episodic migraine without aura (EMoA).

Previous evidence indicates increased impulsivity and altered reward processing in patients with chronic migraine and medication overuse; however, whether the same holds true for those with EMoA is unclear.

Patients newly diagnosed with EMoA (n = 51) and healthy controls (HC, n = 45) were recruited. All participants completed delay discounting task, cognitive assessments, a questionnaire for headache profile, and resting-state function magnetic resonance imaging scans. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the regions of interest and the entire brain was explored.

Patients with EMoA showed a steeper subjective discount rate than HCs (F = 4.74, p = .032), which was positively related to a history of migraines (r = .742, p < .001). RSFC among the ventral striatum (vSTR), ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and occipital cortex was lower in patients with EMoA than in control groups, which was correlated with history (r' = .294, p = .036) and subjective discount rate (r' = .380, p = .006). Additionally, discounting rates and RSFC between the vSTR and occipital regions were significantly abnormal in the triptan group than the non-triptan group. Mediating effect analysis indicated a significant mediating effect in the change in RSFC between the vSTR and occipital status, history of triptan use, and subjective discount rate.

This study further elucidated that an increase in delayed discounting rate exists in patients with EMoA and is related to the abnormality of the value processing network.