Skip to main content

Why Do Migraines Often Decrease As We Age?

Current Pain and Headache Reports volume 17, Article number: 366 (2013) Cite this article

Abstract

Migraine undergoes both an evolving state in the formative years but also has a remitting state which bears resemblance to the former. Underlying genetics may contribute to the initiating sequence for these processes but the patient’s lifetime environment may influence the expression of the disease. Systems rarely thought of in terms of neurologic disease such as the inflammatory system may have significant contributions to modulating this process and accounting for the clinical presentation of migraine.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

  1. Kurth T. The association of migraine with ischemic stroke. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2010;10:133–9. Important paper looking at the factors involved in migraine related stroke.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bartleson JD, Cutrer FM. Migraine update. Diagnosis and treatment. Minn Med. 2010;93:36–41.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Stovner LJ, Zwart JA, Hagen K, et al. Epidemiology of headache in Europe. Eur J Neurol. 2006;13:333–45.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang SJ. Epidemiology of migraine and other types of headache in Asia. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2003;3:104–8.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Natoli JL, Manack A, Dean B, et al. Global prevalence of chronic migraine: a systematic review. Cephalalgia. 2010;30:599–609.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lipton RB, Hamelsky SW, Stewart WF. Epidemiology and impact of migraine. In: Silberstein SD, Lipton RB, Dalessio DJ, editors. Wolff’s Headache and Other Head Pain. New York: Oxford University Press; 2001. p. 85–107.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Victor TW, Hu X, Campbell JC, Buse DC, Lipton RB. Migraine prevalence by age and sex in the United States: a life-span study. Cephalalgia. 2010;30:1065–72.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bigal ME, Lipton RB. Migraine at all ages. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2006;10:207–13.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Scher AI, Bigal ME, Lipton RB. Comorbidity of migraine. Curr Opin Neurol. 2005;18:305–10.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Meyer JS, Terayama Y, Konno S, et al. Age-related cerebrovascular disease alters the symptomatic course of migraine. Cephalalgia. 1998;18:202–8.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Robertson WM, Welch KMA, Levine SL, Schultz LR. The effects of aging on cerebral blood flow in migraine. Neurology. 1989;39:947–51.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Aiba S, Tatsumoto M, Saisu A, et al. Prevalence of typical migraine aura without headache in Japanese ophthalmology clinics. Cephalalgia. 2010;30:962–7.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Kelman L. The Aura: a tertiary care study of 952 migraine patients. Cephalalgia. 2004;24:728–34.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society. The international classification of headache disorders. Cephalalgia. 2004;24:1–160.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Silberstein S, Loder E, Diamond S, et al. Probable migraine in the United States: results of the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention (AMPP) study. Cephalalgia. 2007;27:220–9.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Feleppa M, Bigal M, Lipton R. Headache in the elderly. Neurology. 2005;61 suppl 1:133–4.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Martins K, Bigal ME, Bordini CA, Speciali JG. Migraine in the elderly. Headache. 2006;46:312–6.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  18. ••Bigal ME, Liberman JN, Lipton RB. Age-dependent prevalence and clinical features of migraine. Neurology. 2006;67:246–51. A detailed examination of how migraine changes clinically with age across the lifespan.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Wöber-Bingöl Ç, Wöber C, Karwautz A, et al. Clinical features of migraine: a cross-sectional study in patients aged three to sixty-nine. Cephalalgia. 2004;24:12–7.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Rostrup E, Gouw AA, Vrenken H, et al. The spatial distribution of age-related white matter changes as a function of vascular risk factors—Results from the LADIS study. NeuroImage. 2012;60:1597–607.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Igarashi H, Sakai F, Kan S, Okada J, Tazaki Y. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in patients with migraine. Cephalalgia. 1991;11:69–74.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Murray ME, Vemuri P, Preboske GM, et al. A quantitative postmortem MRI design sensitive to white matter hyperintensity differences and their relationship with underlying pathology. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2012;71:1113–22.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. ••Turkoglu R, Tuzun E, Icor S, et al. Antineuronal antibodies in migraine patients with white matter lesions. Int Neurosci. 2011;121:33–6. First exploration of an uncharted area with significant implications.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Tisserand DJ, van Boxtel MP, Pruessner JC, et al. A voxel-based morphometric study to determine individual differences in gray matter density associated with age and cognitive change over time. Cereb Cortex. 2004;14:966–73.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Rocca MA, Ceccarelli A, Falini A, et al. Brain gray matter changen migraine patients with T2-visible lesions A 3-T MRI study. Stroke. 2006;37:1765–70.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Sarchielli P, Alberti A, Baldi A, et al. Proinflammatory cytokines, adhesion molecules, and lymphocyte integrin expression in the internal jugular blood of migraine patients without aura assessed ictally. Headache. 2006;46:200–7.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Puente J, Jaque M, Carrasco C, et al. Triptan drugs, natural killer cell cytotoxicity, and neutrophils pro-matrix metalloproteinase-9 secretion. Headache. 2008;48:1482–9.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Vanhoutte PM, Scott-Burden T. The endothelium in health and disease. Tex Hear Inst J. 1994;21:62–7.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Bartley J. Could glial activation be a factor in migraine? J Med Hypotheses. 2009;72:255–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Bilbo SD, Smith SH, Schwarz JM. A lifespan approach to neuroinflammatory and cognitive disorders: a critical role for Glia. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2012;7:24–41.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Grinberg YY, Milton JG, Kraig RP. Spreading depression sends microglia on levy flights. PLoS One. 2011;6:e19294.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Grinberg YY, Dibbern ME, Levasseur VA, Kraig RP. Insulin-like growth factor-1 abrogates microglial oxidative stress and TNF-α responses to spreading depression. J Neurochem. 2013. doi:10.1111/jnc.12267 [Epub ahead of print].

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. •Brown DR. Role of microglia in age-related changes to the nervous system. Sci World J. 2009;9:1061–71. Very comprehensive examination of the work done to date on microglia.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Welch KM, Nagesh V, Aurora SK, Gelman N. Periaqueductal gray matter dysfunction in migraine: cause or the burden of illness? Headache. 2001;41:629–37.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Ebersberger A, Schaible H-G, Averbeck B, Richter F. Is there a correlation between spreading depression, neurogenic inflammation, and nociception that might cause migraine headache? Ann Neurol. 2001;49:7–13.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Durham PL, Garrett FG. Neurological mechanisms of migraine: potential of the gap junction modulator tonabersat in prevention of migraine. Cephalalgia. 2009;29 Suppl 2:1–6.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Wenk GL, Pierce DJ, Struble RG, Price DL, Cork LC. Age-related changes in multiple neurotransmitter systems in the monkey brain. Neurobiol Aging. 1989;10:11–9.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Meltzer CC, Smith G, DeKosky ST, et al. Serotonin in aging, late-life depression, and alzheimer’s disease: the emerging role of functional imaging. Neuropsychopharmacology. 1988;18:407–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Glorioso C, Sibille E. Between destiny and disease: genetics and molecular pathways of human central nervous system aging. Prog Neurobiol. 2011;93:165–81.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

Conflict of Interest

Dr. Frederick G. Freitag reported receiving consultancy from Transcept and honoraria from Allergan. Dr. Freitag reported receiving payment for the development of educational presentations including service on speakers’ bureaus from Zegenix. Dr. Freitag is employed with the HealthTexas Provider Network.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, 9200 W. Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA

    Frederick G. Freitag

Authors
  1. Frederick G. Freitag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frederick G. Freitag.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Migraine

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Freitag, F.G. Why Do Migraines Often Decrease As We Age?. Curr Pain Headache Rep 17, 366 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-013-0366-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-013-0366-3

Keywords

  • White Matter Hyperintensities
  • Vasodilatory Capacitance
  • Endothelium
  • Microglia
  • Immunocompetent
  • Spreading Depression
  • Neurogenic Inflammation
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Ferritin