Accelerated brain ageing in migraine: a multilevel MRI-based brain-age modelling study
Hung-Yu Liu1,2, Chen-Yuan Kuo3, Pei-Lin Lee4
1Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112201, Taiwan.
Brain Communications
|April 10, 2026
Summary
Migraine patients show accelerated brain aging, particularly in cognitive and emotional processing regions. This brain aging is linked to headache frequency, medication use, and depression, highlighting migraine's complex neurological impact.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Neurology
- Brain Aging
Background:
- Migraine is a complex disorder associated with emotional and cognitive issues.
- The link between migraine and accelerated brain aging is suspected but not well understood.
- Specific brain regions and clinical implications of migraine-related brain aging require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate grey matter-based brain age in patients with migraine compared to healthy controls.
- To identify specific brain regions affected by accelerated aging in migraine.
- To explore the association between regional brain age deviations and clinical factors in migraine.
Main Methods:
- Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) on T1-weighted MRI scans.
- Utilized a validated brain-age prediction framework.
- Included 110 migraine patients (treatment-naïve) and 70 healthy controls.
Main Results:
- Migraine patients exhibited a significantly higher global brain-age gap (mean difference = 4.24 years).
- Accelerated aging patterns were observed in 66 brain parcels, including prefrontal, frontal, cingulate, parietal, temporal cortices, and amygdala.
- Regional brain-age deviations correlated with headache frequency, painkiller usage, and depressive symptoms.
Conclusions:
- Migraine is associated with widespread, regionally patterned brain aging.
- Brain aging in migraine affects regions crucial for cognitive, emotional, and perceptual processing.
- Findings deepen understanding of migraine's neurobiological complexity and suggest potential targets for intervention to preserve brain health.
