Abstract:Objective To study the effect of leukoaraiosis (LA) on cognitive function in patients with migraine. Methods A total of 106 patients with migraine from January 2015 to March 2016 were enrolled in the study and divided into migraine without aura group (MOA group, n = 76) and migraine with aura group (MA group, n = 30), with 50 healthy individuals in the control group. Cholinergic pathways hyperintensities scale (CHIPS) and Montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA) were performed to evaluate the LA severity and cognitive level. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between CHIPS scores and MoCA scores in patients with migraine during attack period and intermission period. Results ① The CHIPS total score in MA group was significantly higher than that in MOA group and control group, the incidence of LA was significantly higher than that in control group (P < 0.05). The CHIPS total score in MOA group was significantly higher than that in control group (P < 0.05). ② During attack period, all the items scores and total score of MoCA in MA group were significantly lower than those in control group, and the scores of language, delayed recall and total score were significantly lower than those in MOA group (P < 0.05). During intermission period, the scores of naming, attention, language, abstraction, delayed recall and total score in MA group were significantly lower than those in control group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in all the items scores and total score of MoCA between MA group and MOA group during intermission period (P > 0.05). ③ CHIPS score was negatively related with the scores of language, delayed recall and total score of MoCA in MOA group during attack period (P < 0.05); CHIPS score was negatively related with the scores of naming, attention, language, delayed recall and total score of MoCA in MA group during attack period (P < 0.05). Conclusions Patients with migraine have a high risk of LA and cognitive impairment, and MA has a higher incidence of LA than MOA. For patients with MA and MOA, the higher the severity of LA is, the lower the cognitive level is during attack period, but there is no significant correlation between them during intermission period.