Key clinical point: Chronic caffeine use is associated with a reduced cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) in the posterior circulation of patients with episodic migraine, whereas caffeine cessation is associated with a significantly improved CVR.
Major finding: The breath-holding index (BHI) of the posterior cerebral arteries (PCA) was lower in caffeine users vs. nonusers (median 1.1 vs. 1.3; P = .03), with caffeine cessation being associated with a significant improvement in PCA-BHI (median 1.1 at baseline vs. 1.3 at 3 months of follow-up; P = .03) and independently associated with changes in PCA-BHI (adjusted unstandardized β 0.27; P = .04).
Study details: Findings are from a prospective, longitudinal, observational study of 84 adult patients with episodic migraine and no vascular risk factors, of whom 56 were caffeine users and were instructed to discontinue caffeine use.
Disclosures: The study was supported by the Dong-A ST and National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean government. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Gil Y-E et al. Headache. 2022;62(2):169-75 (Feb 3). Doi: 10.1111/head.14263