Evidence Hub

Ultrasonic assessment of carotid intima-media thickness in migraine: a meta-analysis

Wang Q, Liu ZY, Zhou J

The Journal of international medical research, 2019

555 participants

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Migraine is believed to be a risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases, and previous studies have indicated an association between migraine and cerebral atherosclerosis. Carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) is considered to be a biomarker of atherosclerosis pathology. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between carotid IMT and migraine by conducting a meta-analysis.

METHODS: We searched Web of Science, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library for eligible studies assessing carotid IMT in patients with migraine and controls. Data were extracted independently by two reviewers and analyzed using Review Manager 5.3 software.

RESULTS: The meta-analysis included seven articles with 555 subjects (279 migraine patients, 276 controls). Carotid IMT was significantly greater in patients with migraine compared with controls. However, there were no significant differences in IMT between patients with migraine with aura (MA) and controls, migraine without aura (MO) and controls, and patients with MA and MO.

CONCLUSION: Patients with migraine have greater carotid IMT than individuals without migraine, suggesting an association between atherosclerosis and migraine. However, further studies with more samples are needed to confirm this finding.

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 555 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free