Retinal neural tissue and vascular calibres in migraine: the Northern Finland Birth Cohort Eye Study

Abstract

PurposeTo evaluate the possible effects of migraine on retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL), ganglion cell‐inner plexiform layer (GC‐IPL), macular thickness and retinal arteriolar and venular diameters (CRAE, CRVE) in a population‐based birth cohort.Methods375 migraineurs and 1489 healthy controls were included in this cross‐sectional cohort study. RNFL, GC‐IPL and macular thickness parameters were measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT), and vascular parameters were measured from fundus photographs. Migraine was determined by a questionnaire and specific features were selected as covariates (gender, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, refraction and diabetes).ResultsThere were no statistically significant differences between healthy controls and migraineurs in average RNFL (p = 0.123), macular (p = 0.488) or GC‐IPL (p = 0.437) thickness. Migraine did not have a significant effect on any of the macular or GC‐IPL subfields. For RNFL subfields, only temporal inferior was borderline significantly increased in migraineurs (p = 0.039) in adjusted results. No statistically significant differences were found between study groups on retinal vascular calibres CRAE (p = 0.879), CRVE (p = 0.145) or AVR (p = 0.259). GC‐IPL thickness was found to be positively correlated with CRAE and CRVE in both study groups as GC‐IPL thickness increased together with the increase in CRAE and CRVE (p‐trend < 0.001 in both), and a similar trend was detected with central macular subfield thickness and systolic (p‐trend < 0.001) and diastolic (p‐trend = 0.010) blood pressure, but only in the control group.ConclusionThere were no remarkable differences between migraineurs and healthy controls in retinal vascular or structural parameters in our study.