Harvard Health Content API

The brains of people with migraines look a bit different than other brains, a review of research concludes. The review looked at 19 studies. All of them examined people’s brains using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The images showed that people who have migraines are more likely than others to have changes in the brain’s white matter. These areas help to carry signals within the brain. People with migraines also had more areas in the brain that looked like previous strokes. Researchers said they don’t know why changes in white matter are more common in people with migraines. They don’t know if migraines caused the changes, or if the changes caused the migraines. Or something else could have caused both. They said they have no evidence that the changes affect people’s health.