Aortic pulse wave velocity in children with migraine: a case control study

Background: Migraine has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) accident like angina and myocardial infarction(1) . Vascular changes in migraineur traditionally may prevail in cranial blood district, but more likely it is a generalized vascular phenomenon.(2) Previous studies showed an increased aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), a direct measure of aortic stiffness and an independent predictor of stroke and CV disease, in young and middle-aged migraineurs(3) Here we hypothesized that, if associated with the pathogenetic bases of the disease, increased aPWV should be appreciable also in migraineurs children. Materials and Methods: : We studied 10 children with migraine without aura (age 12,9±1,9 years, 7 male and 3 female, blood pressure 123,30±13,6mm Hg) and 6 age-, sex-, and blood pressure–marche healthy control children. In all participants, aortic PWV and aortic augmentation index were measured using an oscillometric technique. Results: Children with migraine without aura had a higher a PWV (5.65 ± 0.60 vs 4.65 ± 0.42 m×s−1, p < 0.002) and aortic augmentation (15.07 ± 13.97 vs 3.00 ± 7,48 p < 0.037) than matched control children. While other variables potentially able to influence aortic distensibility, such as mean brachial arterial pressure and age, are not significantly different between the two groups. Similarly, no significant differences emerged as regards heart rate, diastolic arterial pressure and humeral differential and systolic and aortic pulsation.. Conclusion: The present study showed higher aPWV in children affected by migraine without aura with respect to healthy controls. This result support the data of higher aPWV in migraine(3) and suggest that an increased aortic stiffness is already present in childhood. So, whatever the role played by such vascular alteration, it’s likely to be associated with basic mechanisms of migraine and could represent a new way to shed light on the complex yet unsolved pathophysiological network of the disease.