Virginia Via Research Day Book 2026

Medical Student Research Biomedical

15 ALZHEIMER DISEASE INCIDENCE AND AGE OF ONSET AMONG MIGRAINE PATIENTS: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT ANALYSIS

Madeleine Sifford, OMS-II (1*); Virginia Axline, OMS-II (1*); Angelica Joshi, OMS-II (1*); Kelly C.S. Roballo, DVM, PhD. *These authors contributed equally to this work Corresponding author: msifford@vcom.edu

VCOM-Virginia, Blacksburg, Virginia

their migraine diagnosis or whose dementia diagnosis is determined to be incidental. We will match our control and experimental groups by age, sex, and race. The data will be analyzed using a Chi-square test to determine potential correlations between the incidence and age of onset of AD with or without a prior diagnosis of migraines. Results: Data extraction and analysis are ongoing. Preliminary analysis reveals that patients who experience migraines prior to their AD diagnosis were diagnosed with AD an average of 15 years earlier than controls, at 68 years old, compared to 83 years old in the control group. We anticipate observing a continued difference in the incidence and timing of AD onset in patients with preceding chronic migraines as we continue to analyze the dataset. Conclusions: The initial data review suggests that subjects with a chronic migraine diagnosis have an increased incidence and earlier development of AD or related dementias. These results indicate a need for continued research to evaluate the relationship between chronic migraines and the neurophysiology contributing to AD development.

IRB Statement: Not applicable. This project is a retrospective cohort study and does not involve human or new animal subjects. Source citation: Kim J, Ha WS, Park SH, Han K, Baek MS. Association between migraine and Alzheimer's disease: a nationwide cohort study. Front Aging Neurosci. 2023 May 25;15:1196185. doi: 10.3389/ fnagi.2023.1196185. PMID: 37304073; PMCID: PMC10248237.

Context: Migraine is a chronic neurological disease that affects a large population of adults worldwide and causes symptoms such as headache, vomiting, vision impairment, and hearing impairment. Some studies have shown high incidences of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in patients who have a history of chronic migraine compared to those without a migraine history. Previous studies have suggested the association between white matter damage and chronic pain with AD incidence, but research is inconsistent regarding the association of migraine and AD (Kim J. et al., 2023). This study evaluates the potential relationship between chronic migraine and AD incidence. Objective/Hypothesis: To examine the association between migraines and incidence and onset of Alzheimer's disease or severe dementia. We hypothesize that participants with a migraine diagnosis have an increased risk for developing AD later in life and at an earlier age of onset. Methods: Using the All of Us database, we will extract participants who have a diagnosis of AD or other selected dementias, in addition to a documented history of chronic migraines with or without aura. We will exclude individuals whose AD diagnosis precedes

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