Current Pediatric Research

Background: Migraine is a common disorder with well-known association to structural brain changes. In the current study, we aim to identify the relation between structural brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) changes and the migraine type as well their relation to the patient’s age. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in Iraq from July 2020 to January 2021, on 200 patients with migraine headache, of two age groups (100 patients of less than 18 years and 100 patients of 18-55 years). All the participants had MRI of the brain; the patient’s information and the MRI records were then studied. Results: Patients under age of 18 years (Group 1),were 43 male (43%), 57 female (57%), age range is 3-18 years old, the mean age is 10.36 ± 3.62 years,19 patients (19%) were having positive MRI findings and 17 patients (17%) were having Migraine with Aura (MA). On the other hand, the patients of 18 years old or more (Group 2) were 37 male (37%) and 63 (63%) female, their age range is 19-55 years, mean age is 35 ± 9.97 years, of them 32 patients (32%) have positive MRI findings and 21 patients(21%) had MA. The positive MRI findings, in form of White Matter Hyper Intensities (WMHI), were noted in 51 patients of the total 200 patients (25.5%) include 32% in group 2 and 19% in group 1, total number of WMHI were 120, of them 91 (75.8%) supratentorial and 29 (24.2%) infratentorial. The average No. of WMHI found to be significantly higher in group 2, compared to group 1 (1.9 vs. 2.5 per positive case respectively). The presence of positive MRI changes among MA is shown to be significantly high (p value=0.00), compared to the patients who don’t have an aura (65.8% vs. 16%), with an odds ratio of 10.0 (at 95% confidence interval), likewise this difference is clearly noted if each age were analyzed separately. Conclusion: Structural brain changes in form of WMHI are common MRI findings in the migraineurs patients, and it seems to be strongly associated with aura.

Author(s): Rasha Nadeem Ahmed*, Waseem Hashim Alkhaffaf, Mohamed Muyaser Naif, Akram M Al-Mahdawi

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