Age-related differences in resting state functional connectivity in pediatric migraine

BACKGROUND: Migraine affects roughly 10% of youth aged 5–15 years, however the underlying mechanisms of migraine in youth are poorly understood. Multiple structural and functional alterations have been shown in the brains of adult migraine sufferers. This study aims to investigate the effects of migraine on resting-state functional connectivity during the period of transition from childhood to adolescence, a critical period of brain development and the time when rates of pediatric chronic pain spikes. METHODS: Using independent component analysis, we compared resting state network spatial maps and power spectra between youth with migraine aged 7–15 and age-matched controls. Statistical comparisons were conducted using a MANCOVA analysis. RESULTS: We show (1) group by age interaction effects on connectivity in the visual and salience networks, group by sex interaction effects on connectivity in the default mode network and group by pubertal status interaction effects on connectivity in visual and frontal parietal networks, and (2) relationships between connectivity in the visual networks and the migraine cycle, and age by cycle interaction effects on connectivity in the visual, default mode and sensorimotor networks. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that brain alterations begin early in youth with migraine and are modulated by development. This highlights the need for further study into the neural mechanisms of migraine in youth specifically, to aid in the development of more effective treatments.