Outlook

In one of the few long-term studies of migraine patients, a Scandinavian researcher named Bille observed 73 Swedish children with migraine. He followed these children for 40 years. On average, they started to have migraines at age six years. During puberty or young adulthood, 62% of the children were migraine-free for at least two years. About 33% started to have regular attacks again after an average of six migraine-free years, and a surprising 60% of the original 73 children still had migraines after 30 years. In 30 years, 22% of the children never had a migraine-free year.