Previous studies have investigated whether migraine is a circulatory disorder, as migraineurs are at heightened risk of cerebrovascular disease. However, in most cases, systemic vascular function was evaluated, which may not reflect abnormalities in the cerebral circulation. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether cerebrovascular function differs between migraineurs and controls. A systematic literature search was conducted across three electronic databases to search for studies that compared cerebrovascular function in migraineurs to controls. Where applicable, meta-analyses were used to determine standardised mean differences (SMD) between migraineurs and controls. Seventy articles were identified, 40 of which contained quantitative data. Meta-analyses showed pulsatility index (PI) was higher (SMD = 0.23; 95%CI = 0.05 to 0.42, P = 0.01) and cerebrovascular responsiveness (CVR) to hypercapnia was lower (SMD=-0.34; 95%CI=-0.67 to -0.01, P = 0.04) in the posterior circulation of migraineurs, particularly those without aura. The meta-analyses also indicated that migraineurs have higher resting mean blood flow velocity in both anterior (SMD = 0.14; 95%CI = 0.05 to 0.23, P = 0.003) and posterior circulations (SMD = 0.20; 95%CI = 0.05 to 0.34, P = 0.007). Compared to healthy controls, migraineurs have altered cerebrovascular function, evidenced by elevated PI (representing arterial stiffness) and impaired CVR to hypercapnia (representing cerebral vasodilator function). Future studies should investigate whether improvement of cerebrovascular function is able to alleviate migraine.
Keywords: Cerebral blood flow; cerebrovascular function; cerebrovascular responsiveness; neurovascular coupling; pulsatility index.