Cortical Thickness Changes in Chronic Migraine

Chronic migraine (CM) patients have significantly greater cortical covariance compared to controls, according to a recent study. Cortical thickness in CM patients was predominantly accounted for by CM duration, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and poor sleep quality, while improved pain self‐efficacy buffered cortical thickness. Thirty CM cases (mean age 40 years; male‐to‐female 1:4) and 30 sex‐matched healthy controls (mean age 40 years) were enrolled. Participants completed self‐administered and standardized questionnaires assessing headache‐related clinical features and common psychological comorbidities. T1‐weighted brain images were acquired on a 3T MRI and a whole‐brain cortical thickness analysis was performed.

Researchers found:

• The whole brain cortical thickness analysis revealed no significant differences between CM patients and controls.
• However, significant associations between clinical features and cortical thickness were observed for the patients only.
• These associations included the right superior temporal sulcus (R² = 0.72) and the right insula (R²= 0.71) with distinct clinical variables (ie, longer history of CM, PTSD, sleep quality, pain self‐efficacy, and somatic symptoms).

Woldeamanuel YW, DeSouza DD, Sanjanwala BM, Cowan RP. Clinical features contributing to cortical thickness changes in chronic migraine–A pilot study. [Published online ahead of print November 23, 2018]. Headache. doi:10.1111/head.13452.

Chronic migraine (CM) patients have significantly greater cortical covariance compared to controls, according to a recent study. Cortical thickness in CM patients was predominantly accounted for by CM duration, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and poor sleep quality, while improved pain self‐efficacy buffered cortical thickness. Thirty CM cases (mean age 40 years; male‐to‐female 1:4) and 30 sex‐matched healthy controls (mean age 40 years) were enrolled. Participants completed self‐administered and standardized questionnaires assessing headache‐related clinical features and common psychological comorbidities. T1‐weighted brain images were acquired on a 3T MRI and a whole‐brain cortical thickness analysis was performed.

Researchers found:

• The whole brain cortical thickness analysis revealed no significant differences between CM patients and controls.
• However, significant associations between clinical features and cortical thickness were observed for the patients only.
• These associations included the right superior temporal sulcus (R² = 0.72) and the right insula (R²= 0.71) with distinct clinical variables (ie, longer history of CM, PTSD, sleep quality, pain self‐efficacy, and somatic symptoms).

Woldeamanuel YW, DeSouza DD, Sanjanwala BM, Cowan RP. Clinical features contributing to cortical thickness changes in chronic migraine–A pilot study. [Published online ahead of print November 23, 2018]. Headache. doi:10.1111/head.13452.

Chronic migraine (CM) patients have significantly greater cortical covariance compared to controls, according to a recent study. Cortical thickness in CM patients was predominantly accounted for by CM duration, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and poor sleep quality, while improved pain self‐efficacy buffered cortical thickness. Thirty CM cases (mean age 40 years; male‐to‐female 1:4) and 30 sex‐matched healthy controls (mean age 40 years) were enrolled. Participants completed self‐administered and standardized questionnaires assessing headache‐related clinical features and common psychological comorbidities. T1‐weighted brain images were acquired on a 3T MRI and a whole‐brain cortical thickness analysis was performed.

Researchers found:

• The whole brain cortical thickness analysis revealed no significant differences between CM patients and controls.
• However, significant associations between clinical features and cortical thickness were observed for the patients only.
• These associations included the right superior temporal sulcus (R² = 0.72) and the right insula (R²= 0.71) with distinct clinical variables (ie, longer history of CM, PTSD, sleep quality, pain self‐efficacy, and somatic symptoms).

Woldeamanuel YW, DeSouza DD, Sanjanwala BM, Cowan RP. Clinical features contributing to cortical thickness changes in chronic migraine–A pilot study. [Published online ahead of print November 23, 2018]. Headache. doi:10.1111/head.13452.