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Literature highlights
Seasonal changes in migraine course
Past reports have described seasonal changes in the course of migraine. In particular, it seems that, unlike patients suffering from other forms of headache, migraineurs are more likely to have headache during "light" seasons as opposed to "dark" seasons. The authors of this article have studied the impact of changes in the amount of daylight in the different seasons among women with migraine with and without aura. The study population consisted of 169 female migraine patients (98 suffering from migraine without aura and 71 from migraine with aura), who lived in the Arctic region, where the number of daylight hours changes abruptly from summer to winter. The women were investigated using a specially designed questionnaire. A total of 107 women (63%) reported seasonal changes in the frequency of migraine attacks. It seems that seasonal changes affect migraine with aura more than they do migraine without aura: 47% of migraine with aura patients reported a higher frequency of migraine attacks in the light season versus 17% of migraine without aura patients (p <0.001). In addition, compared with migraine patients without aura, the patients with aura followed in this study were found to be hypersensitive to light also when they were attack free. They reported that the attacks were triggered by light stimulation and that wearing sunglasses was the only way to prevent attacks. No differences were found between the two groups of women for sleep disorders, the use of oral contraceptives, and 24-hour rhythmic biological cycles. The authors conclude that seasonal changes in the frequency of migraine with aura attacks are basically determined by the typically extreme changes in daylight characterizing Arctic seasons.
This page last modified: 27/03/2006