Visual Attention in Children With Migraine: A Controlled Comparative Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the visual attention of children with migraine and compare it with a control group. Thirty migrainous children and 30 controls without headache were subjected to a visual attention assessment with Trail Making Tests (TMT) A/B, Letter Cancellation Test, and the Brazilian computerized test Visual Attention Test, third edition. The migraine group was evaluated after 2 days without headache. The migraine group had an inferior performance compared with the control group on TMT A (P = 0.03) and B (P = 0.001), and more errors on tasks 1 (P = 0.032) and 2 (P = 0.015) of the Visual Attention Test, presenting difficulty with selective and alternate attention. Attention is a neurological function that depends on structures such as the brainstem, cerebral cortex and the limbic system and on neurotransmitters such as dopamine and noradrenaline. The neurochemical aspects involved in the physiopathology of migraine and attention mechanisms probably predispose these children to visual attention deficits.

Migraine and cognition in children: a controlled study

“…Our findings are supported by other pediatric and adult studies that showed cognitive deficits such as decreased processing speed, memory deficits, and attention problems [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] , as well as intelligence quotient (IQ) differences 14 . In an important, longitudinal study, Waldie et al 18 found impaired verbal skills in a migraine group when compared to a control group, more evident between 3-to-13-year-old migrainer children.…”

“…Riva et al 6 , reported worse visuomotor processing speed in both migraineur children with (n=17) and without (n=31) aura. Villa et al 7 , in a comparative and controlled study, found selective and alternate attention deficits in a migraine group. However, Haverkamp et al 8 did not find any cognitive disturbances in migraineurs when compared to their siblings without headache.…”

“…Studies about cognitive dysfunction in pediatric migraine are scarce and showed variable results [5][6][7][8] .…”

Saccade behaviour in migraine patients

“…Several studies concluded that there is a visual attention deficit in migraine patients (10,11). Since the prefrontal and cingulate cortices play a major role in attentional processing, we would expect that migraine patients have difficulties with correctly performing challenging saccadic eye movement tests which require adequate visual attention (12).…”

Line bisection in medication-overuse and chronic tension-type headaches

“…Clinical studies have shown that patients with migraine [9][10][11] or tension-type headache [11] often display various attention problems.…”