Page 146 - Migraine, the heart and the brain

Chapter 8
abstraCt
Introduction
Many migraine patients report cognitive complaints during the rst hours or days following a migraine attack. The aim of this study was to assess whether and which cognitive (perceptual, attentional, or memory) processes are impaired during the rst 48 hours after a migraine attack.
Methods
Three different cognitive tasks (global-local task, the attentional network task, and N-back task) were administered to 16 migraine patients (13 migraine without aura; mean age 58 years, 15 female) and 18 controls (59 years,
15 female), matched on age, gender, and educational level. Tasks were administered at three time points; during the rst headache free day following a migraine attack ( rst session), 24 hours later (second session), and 12 days after the attack (third session).
Results
The attentional network and N-back tasks showed no signi cant differences between migraineurs and controls. In the global-local task, controls showed faster reaction times to global than to local stimuli, which is the standard globalprecedence effect. This effect was absent in the migraineurs in all three sessions, especially if they used prophylaxis. Conclusion: Migraineurs had no impaired attentional or working- memory functioning in the 2 days after an attack. They did show impairments in the processing of global visual features compared with controls, both between and immediately after an attack.
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