The 2026 annual meeting of the American Headache Society (AHS) just concluded in Orlando, Florida. From June 4 through June 7, the 68th Annual Scientific Meeting of the AHS delivered the latest research and scientific advances to health professionals caring for patients with head, neck, and orofacial pain. Today, we have a curated selection of abstracts on topics related to migraine.

Abstracts presented at the AHS 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting are featured in the June issue of the Journal of Head and Face Pain. Some descriptions and conclusions were edited for brevity and clarity. Consult the full abstracts in the June issue for the most thorough look at the following migraine research.

Migraine Abstracts from AHS 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting

Patterns of Self-Reported Triggers Within Females and Males with Migraine and Their Association with Prodromal and Other Migraine Attack Symptoms

  • Description: Self-reported migraine attack triggers encompass a wide variety of environmental exposures as well as physical and emotional states and stimuli. Recently, with increased recognition of the prodromal phase of migraine, it is believed that many self-reported triggers may instead be prodromal symptoms.
  • Conclusion: Sex-specific clustering identified distinct migraine phenotypes characterized by different trigger profiles. These profiles had similarities between sexes. In both sexes, there was a “hypersensitivity” cluster that endorsed the highest number of triggers, with high rates of prodrome symptoms. Another cluster was characterized by “physical symptoms”; with patients endorsing physical exertion, fatigue and sleep deprivation. Finally, a “low-trigger sensitivity” cluster comprised older patients, with minimal triggers, prodromal symptoms, and other migraine attack symptoms.

Team-Based Migraine Preventive Care for Patients Receiving CGRP-Targeting Therapy: A Neurologist–Pharmacist Collaboration

  • Description: CGRP-targeting migraine preventive therapies often require prior authorization, specialty pharmacy coordination, and timely clinical reassessment to determine response and guide continuation. Recommended reassessment typically occurs within three to six months of initiation; however, outpatient headache neurology follow-up can be delayed due to limited clinic access. This mismatch between evidence-based reassessment recommendations and real-world care delivery represents a gap in preventive migraine management. Integrating pharmacists trained in migraine care into team-based outpatient practice may help bridge this gap by supporting medication access, interim assessment, and continuity during prolonged neurology wait times.
  • Conclusion: This neurologist–pharmacist collaborative care model addressed a critical gap in migraine preventive management by enabling interim clinical reassessment during prolonged neurology wait times. Pharmacist-supported encounters improved medication access and care continuity through timely initiation, proactive tolerability management, and coordinated specialty pharmacy support while preserving neurologist oversight.

Effect of Adding Atogepant to OnabotulinumtoxinA on Symptoms-Free Days: Results From a Phase 3, Multicenter, 24-Week Open-Label Study (UNCHAINED)

  • Description: In the open-label UNCHAINED study, adding atogepant to onabotulinumtoxinA increased cardinal and complete migraine symptom-free days, suggesting overall improvements in migraine symptom burden (headache plus associated symptoms) in adults with chronic migraine.
  • Conclusion: Adding atogepant to onabotulinumtoxinA was associated with consistent increases in cardinal and complete migraine symptom-free days over 24 weeks of open-label treatment.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Serum CGRP Levels in Migraine: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

  • Description: Multiple studies have evaluated serum calcitonin gene–related peptide (CGRP) levels for diagnostic purposes; however, reported accuracy varies due to differences in assay techniques, sampling timing, and cutoff thresholds. This variability limits clinical applicability. A comprehensive synthesis of available evidence is needed to determine the overall diagnostic performance of serum CGRP levels in distinguishing migraine patients from controls.
  • Conclusion: Serum CGRP levels demonstrate good diagnostic accuracy for migraine and may serve as a supportive biomarker in clinical and research settings. However, variability in assay methods, timing of sampling, and cutoff values limits immediate clinical application.

Electrophysiological Signatures of Cognitive Dysfunction in Chronic Migraine

  • Description: In this large-scale study, [the researchers aimed] to identify a profile of neurocognitive deficit in chronic migraine and investigate possible mechanisms of deficit and parallels using electrophysiological data.
  • Conclusion: [The] findings indicate significant neurocognitive deficits in chronic migraine and identify a variety of candidate electrophysiological biomarkers that can be used as an objective measure for changes in neurocognitive function in chronic migraine. These identified connections can be utilized in monitoring migraine treatment process and can be used to identify phenotypes and subtypes of chronic migraine.

Sex-Stratified Genome-Wide Analyses of Migraine Uncover Genetic Links to Cardiovascular Disease, Female-Specific Traits, and Approved Medications

  • Description: [The researchers] hypothesized that integrating clinical and self-reported migraine phenotypes would increase statistical power to detect migraine risk genes, particularly in females, and that some of these genes would be targets of already approved medications.
  • Conclusion: Integrating clinical and self-reported migraine measures increased statistical power to detect migraine risk loci. Many of the identified genes showed pleiotropic associations with cardiovascular traits, providing mechanistic insight into migraine's association with cardiovascular disease. Several genes, including INHBA, showed additional associations with female-specific traits. In addition to identifying migraine treatments, [the researchers’] drug-gene interaction analyses suggest statins may be efficacious in migraine.

Increased Amygdala Response to Stress is Associated with Decreased Cardiac Autonomic Regulation in Individuals with Migraine

  • Description: While peripheral ANS deficits, including reduced high-frequency heart rate variability, have been previously demonstrated in persons with migraine, alterations in central autonomic regulation during stress remain unexplored. The amygdala plays a key role in coordinating stress responses and autonomic outflow as part of the central autonomic network, yet how amygdala reactivity relates to cardiac autonomic changes during stress in migraine is unknown.
  • Conclusion: Episodic migraine is associated with altered central and peripheral responses to emotionally salient stress, marked by amygdala hyperactivation and decreased cardiovagal regulation. The significant inverse coupling between amygdala reactivity and cardiovagal activity underscores alterations in central autonomic control during stress in persons with migraine. This brain-body dysregulation may contribute to non-pain autonomic symptoms and vulnerability to stress as a migraine trigger.

New Onset of Migraine with Aura as Presentation of Subclinical Epileptic Activity and Neurodegenerative Disease

  • Description: In this case series [researchers] present three patients who [presented] with new onset migraine with visual aura who were found to have abnormal EEG findings along with cognitive decline which may be due to underlying neurodegenerative disease, which suggests that migraine may be a secondary presentation.
  • Conclusion: A new diagnosis of migraine with aura is unusual in elderly patients as the incidence of new onset migraine is very low in people over the age of 55. Contrary to this, the incidence of epilepsy in the elderly increases. One of the suspected mechanisms involves breakdown of neural networks that occurs with neurodegenerative processes.

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