Short summary

We collected MRI brain scan and interview data from women with a diagnosis of migraine with aura (cases) and from migraine-free controls. All participants were identified through the population-based Danish Twin Registry. A single 3-Tesla MRI scanner was used for brain imaging. The collected data allow comparisons of brain imaging results of cases with controls (individual-based analyses). For a subset of data, comparisons of cases with their co-twins are also available (within-pair analyses). 

Rationale

Description of the cohort

Women aged 30 to 60 years (n=345).

Cases: women with migraine with aura according to IHS criteria (lifetime diagnosis) (n=172)

Controls: women with no history of migraine of any type, or frequent tension-type headache (n=139)

Co-twins: women with no history of migraine with aura whose twin sister suffered from this headache form; the co-twins could suffer from migraine without aura (n=34). 

Data and biological material

Brain MRI imaging results, questionnaire and interview data, blood test results (lipid levels, HgA1C). 

Questionnaire and interview data are also available for a larger cohort of women from which we identified participants for the brain imaging study.

Collaborating researchers and departments

Danish Headache Center, Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet Glostrup

• Professor Messoud Ashina

Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre

• Professor Hartwig Siebner

The Danish Twin Registry

• Professor Kirsten Ohm Kyvik 

Publications associated with the project

Brain 2016;139:2015-2023

Brain 2018; 141: 776-785