Extracranial and cardiovascular reactivity in migrainous subjects

It was hypothesized that extracranial vascular responses would differ from normal in migrainous subjects during psychological stress in accord with Malmo and Shagass' theory of symptom specificity. Physiological responses (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, facial temperature and temporal pulse amplitude) were recorded during laboratory stresses (isometric exercise, carbon dioxide rebreathing, cold pressor, head-up tilt, radiant heat, head-back tilt and mental arithmetic) in 20 migrainous subjects and 20 controls matched for age and sex. Increases in temporal pulse amplitude were larger in migrainous subjects during the psychologically stressful mental arithmetic test while facial temperature rose less than in the control group. Extracranial vascular responses were similar in migrainous and non-migrainous subjects during isometric exercise, cold pressor test, head-up tilt and radiant heat although temporal pulse amplitude responses differed during the first trial of the head-back tilt test. Facial temperature rose in migrainous subjects during carbon dioxide rebreathing but remained steady in non-migrainous subjects. The present findings support the hypothesis that physiological reactions of the cranial vasculature differ from normal in migrainous subjects particularly during psychological stress.