A migraine will not be just a nasty headache. It’s the dreaded a part of a neurological disease that brings with it a variety of possible symptoms, including throbbing head pain, waves of nausea, vomiting and hypersensitivity to light and sound. They often occur unannounced and at essentially the most inopportune times.
Pubescent girls with a family history of migraines are particularly in danger, but there are still many unknowns in regards to the who, when and why of the condition. Hadas Nahman-Averbuch, PhD, a researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who focuses on pain and migraines in children, is trying to vary that. She is leading two observational studies: one examining why some adolescent girls develop migraines and others don’t, and the opposite investigating the role of puberty in migraines in girls and boys.
The one-center studies on the School of Medicine are supported by two grants totaling $6 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“During puberty, we see a major increase in migraine diagnoses in girls,” said Nahman-Averbuch, who directs the Pain Across the Lifespan lab on the university and is an assistant professor of anesthesiology. “We wish to know the changes that occur before migraines begin and discover the ladies who’re vulnerable to developing them. We hope this data will result in recent therapies and interventions that, when administered early, can prevent, treat or reduce migraine headaches in adolescent girls.”
“We also want to research how puberty affects the severity and frequency of migraine headaches in adolescent girls and boys who already suffer from them with a view to higher understand the course of the disease.”
Treatment options for young migraine victims are limited—newer migraine medications which have come onto the market in recent times are restricted to people ages 18 and older—and more research is required on this often debilitating condition in adolescents.
The issues in understanding the causes of migraines include the various triggers: stress, certain foods, lack of sleep, caffeine, and fluctuating hormones. As well as, there are extensive and inconsistent time delays between the trigger and the onset of the migraine, making it difficult to find out the precise reason behind a migraine.
The primary study, led by Nahman-Averbuch, focuses on 200 girls ages 10 to 13. During three visits, study participants will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at brain connectivity between two brain regions – the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. The amygdala plays an important role in how we perceive and reply to pain. It communicates and interacts with the prefrontal cortex. Changes on this interaction are present in Patients with migraine headaches in comparison with people without migraines and are related to changes within the frequency of headaches in adolescents with the disorder, Nahman-Averbuch said.
Girls with a family history of migraine are compared with girls without migraine. The aim is to search out out whether brain changes can predict who will probably be diagnosed with the disease. The ladies who didn’t have migraine initially of the study will probably be followed for 2 years to see in the event that they develop migraine.
Previous studies have found that adolescents who’ve a first-degree relative with migraine have higher sensitivity to pain. Nahman-Averbuch, who was involved in a single such study, suspects that increased response to sensory tests involving heat, cold and pressure stimuli could predict who will probably be diagnosed with the disorder. Participants rate such experiences as a part of the study.
Migraines are more common in boys before puberty and in girls during puberty, when fluctuating sex hormones support the transition to early maturity. The researchers want to search out out whether a particular sex hormone – for instance estrogen, testosterone or progesterone – might help predict why adolescent girls usually tend to be affected. As a part of the study, the research team is monitoring blood levels of assorted sex hormones.
Many changes occur during puberty – biological, psychological and social. Any of those changes can affect the pain system and be liable for this pattern. We wish to search out out what these changes are and whether or not they can predict who’s at increased risk of developing migraine headaches.”
Hadas Nahman-Averbuch, PhD, scientist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Within the second study, researchers are observing 180 girls and boys aged 10 to 13 who were diagnosed with migraines over a two-year period. The control group includes migraine-free boys with no family history of migraines and migraine-free girls from the primary study. Using the identical methods as in the primary study, researchers are investigating how puberty affects migraine headaches.
“Understanding the changes that occur before migraine onset and the changes during adolescence that alleviate migraine in a particular population may help us develop recent interventions and prevention strategies,” Nahman-Averbuch said. “At the identical time, if we discover adolescents who’re in danger, we may find a way to start out such interventions earlier.”
