LAUSR

OBJECTIVES Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is the most common hereditary cause of vascular dementia in adults. Migraine is a major symptom of the disease. We aimed to identify clinical and demographical features of the headache associated with increased cerebral lesion burden in a cohort of CADASIL patients. METHODS Thirty-two patients with CADASIL were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Demographics data, vascular risk factors and headache characteristics were collected through a structured questionnaire. MRI (3-T) was used to determine white matter hyperintensities burden evaluated by its volume (WMH-V). RESULTS Regression analysis showed that age (β = 1.266, 95%CI = [0.805, 1.726], p < 0.001), headache intensity (β = 5.143, 95%CI = [2.362, 7.924], p = 0.001) and female sex (β = 19.727, 95%CI = [8.750, 30.075], p = 0.001) were the main predictors of WMH-V. DISCUSSION Age, female sex and headache intensity are associated with increased white matter lesion volume in CADASIL.