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Task-switching abilities in episodic and chronic migraine

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A Correction to this article was published on 07 February 2022

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Abstract

Migraineurs show impaired cognitive functions interictally, mainly involving information processing speed, basic attention, and executive functions. We aimed to assess executive impairment in migraine patients with different attack frequencies through a task-switching protocol designed to assess different sub-processes of executive functioning. We enrolled 42 migraine patients and divided them into three groups based on the attack frequency: 13 subjects had episodic migraine with a low frequency (LFEM, 4–7 migraine days per month), 14 subjects had high-frequency episodic migraine (HFEM, 8–14 days) and, finally, 15 subjects presented chronic migraine (≥ 15 headache days/month, CM); we compared them to 20 healthy control (HC), matched to both gender and education. Patients with high headache frequencies (CM and HFEM) showed worse performance than LFEM and HC controls, as indicated by poor accuracy, increased switch cost, and reaction times. Our study demonstrated a difference in task-switching abilities in patients with high frequency or chronic migraine compared with low-frequency episodic migraine and healthy controls. These difficulties in executive control processes could be related to altered functioning of the frontal cortex and its cortical and subcortical connections.

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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Huntington and Rare Diseases Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Casa Sollievo Della Sofferenza, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

    Simone Migliore

  2. Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Giulia D’Aurizio & Giuseppe Curcio

  3. Headache and Neurosonology Unit, Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico, Rome, Italy

    Claudia Altamura, Nicoletta Brunelli, Carmelinda Costa & Fabrizio Vernieri

Authors
  1. Simone Migliore
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  2. Giulia D’Aurizio
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  3. Claudia Altamura
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  4. Nicoletta Brunelli
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  5. Carmelinda Costa
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  6. Giuseppe Curcio
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  7. Fabrizio Vernieri
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Correspondence to Simone Migliore.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was approved by Campus Bio-Medico University Ethics Committee, approval number 44–18, and registered at AIFA (Italian Drug Agency) with number Eudract 2017–004606-18.

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The original online version of this article was revised: The original published online version contains inverted names of the Authors. The correct presentations are given above.

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Migliore, S., D’Aurizio, G., Altamura, C. et al. Task-switching abilities in episodic and chronic migraine. Neurol Sci 43, 3803–3810 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05837-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05837-4

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