Neurology > > Migraines– Headache episodes throughout long area travel more typical than formerly believed
by Judy George, Deputy Managing Editor, MedPage Today March 13, 2024
Area flight appeared to provoke headaches in healthy astronauts, a potential research study revealed.
Of 24 astronauts who took part in long-haul area flights– ones that lasted a minimum of 10 days– 91.7% experienced several headaches throughout an overall of 3,596 area days, reported Willebrordus P. J. van Oosterhout, MD, PhD, of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and co-authors.
The majority of episodes (89.9%) were tension-type headaches and 10.1% were migraine, the scientists reported in NeurologyEpisodes in the very first week of area travel were most likely to have a migraine phenotype, while those in later durations were most likely to be tension-type (P=0.0002).
The occurrence of area headache, specified by the International Classification of Headache Disorders, was much greater than anticipated, van Oosterhout kept in mind.
“We do not understand why these headaches happen,” he composed in an e-mail to MedPage Today“We assume that various systems are included for the early versus later headache episodes.”
In the very first week of area travel, the body needs to adjust to an absence of gravity, which is called area adjustment syndrome, van Oosterhout stated. “This phenomenon resembles movement illness and can trigger queasiness, throwing up, lightheadedness, and headaches,” he explained.
“The later headaches, we believe, might lead to a boost in intracranial pressure due to the cephalad fluid shift,” he included. “Due to microgravity, there is more fluid building up in the upper part of the body and head– both intracranial and extracranial– therefore leading to greater pressure in the skull.”
Prior research study has actually revealed a variety of brain modifications connected with long area flight periods. Modifications in the eye and brain appear, for instance, and long area flights have actually been revealed to broaden combined brain and cerebrospinal fluid volumes considerably.
The research study included 24 astronauts from the European Space Agency, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency who were appointed to International Space Station explorations for approximately 26 weeks from November 2011 up until June 2018. Mean age had to do with 47 and 96% of the group were guys.
Preflight headache history revealed that 9 astronauts reported never ever having any headaches, while 3 stated they had actually experienced a headache hindering day-to-day activities in the previous 12 months. None had a history of reoccurring headaches or had actually ever been detected with migraine.
The astronauts finished an everyday digital survey throughout the very first 7 days of area flight and a weekly survey till completion of the objective. In overall, 378 headache episodes were reported, and the typical specific headache frequency was 9. Comprehensive details was readily available for 189 headaches.
In the very first week,