Addenbrooke’s cognitive examination test for brief cognitive assessment of adolescents suffering from migraine with aura

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the role of the Addenbrooke's cognitive examination test (ACE-R) in the evaluation of cognitive status in migraineurs interictally. A total of 44 adolescent patients and 44 healthy controls, matched by age and gender, have undergone ACE-R testing. Migraineurs were additionally questioned about migraine aura features and presence of higher cortical dysfunctions (HCD) during an aura. According to the questionnaire results, patients were subsequently divided into HCD and Non-HCD group. ACE-R scores of migraine patients were significantly lower than in healthy controls (93.68 ± 3.64 vs 96.91 ± 2.49; t = 4.852, p < 0.001). Also, subscores of memory and verbal fluency were significantly higher in the control population. There was no correlation of HCD occurrence with cognitive examination score, although Non-HCD subgroup achieved better score (93.13 ± 3.91 vs 94.29 ± 3.30; t = 1.053, p = 0.298). Findings have shown that migraineurs get lower ACE-R test scores, with a tendency to have a poorer outcome in more complex aura. Also, our study has revealed that the ACE-R test is an easily administered test for brief assessment of cognitive status in migraineurs. Future perspectives could be further evaluation of ACE-R test in larger sample size and the impact of migraine with aura on cognitive function in adolescents.

Interictal Cognitive Performance in Children and Adolescents With Primary Headache: A Narrative Review

“…In patients with migraine, there were significant lower scores in semantic verbal fluency (“animals” subtest), but not in phonemic verbal fluency. Petrusic et al ( 43 ) recruited 74 adolescents (age range 13–19 years) who suffered from migraine with aura. Compared with healthy subjects, performances in verbal fluency, but not in language, were lower in patients than in control subjects.…”

“…Focusing on migraine with aura, Petrusic et al ( 43 ) showed significantly lower performance in memory skills in adolescents suffering from migraine with aura compared with healthy subjects. As for language, the authors did not evidence significant association between the presence of higher cortical dysfunctions, frequency and duration of aura and the memory skills (evaluated by the “ACE-R test”) ( 43 , 64 ).…”

Characteristics of N400 component elicited in patients who have migraine with aura

“…Migraine with aura (MwA) is a worldwide highly prevalent disorder that can have a tremendous impact on everyday life [ 1 , 2 ]. Although it is well known that during MwA attack cognitive dysfunction is present in various forms, recent studies also suggest that MwA patients could suffer from subtle cognitive changes during the interictal period [ 3 – 6 ]. Furthermore, it is known that cortical spreading depression, which is a pathophysiological substrate of migraine aura, could disrupt cortical function and also could be a cumulative risk factor for cerebrovascular events [ 7 ].…”

Sensory guided associative learning in pediatric migraine without aura

“…Furthermore, in the previous studies the impairment of psychomotor abilities, attention and verbal memory, have been also found [122], which may be due to the damage caused by migraine. Comparing adolescent migraineurs and healthy groups using the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Test, the overall performance in the migraine group was significantly lower, resulting from significantly worse performance in the verbal fluency and memory tasks [123]. In our previous study, a poorer performance in associative learning and an extensive impairment in generalization was observed in adult migraineurs without aura.…”

“…In a previous fMRI study, it has been found that migraine has a negative effect on the proper functioning of the BG and that this damage is proportional to the frequency of attacks [100]. It was described in another study that volumes of the right globus pallidus, left globus pallidus, and left putamen were significantly smaller in migraine patients (with aura) than in healthy controls [123,133]. Another research group examined persons living with migraine without aura and concluded that the volume of the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus of patients was significantly smaller than that of controls [97].…”