Breakthrough in Migraine Research: LUMC Develops Personalized Prediction

Leiden, December 6, 2025, 12:15 PM – by Robbert Beurse – Every day, around 70,000 people in the Netherlands experience a migraine attack. The condition ranks among the five most disabling diseases worldwide and can completely disrupt daily life. Researchers at Leiden University and LUMC are now developing an innovative method to predict migraine attacks on an individual level, a step toward truly personalized treatment.

Professor of Neurology Gisela Terwindt: “The societal impact of migraine is enormous. We know that hormones, stress, and sleep deprivation can play a role, but the precise triggers vary from person to person. That’s exactly what makes migraine so unpredictable. With this research, we aim to better understand these individual patterns.”

Migraine occurs three times more frequently in women than in men. For patients, an attack often means that work, study, or social activities come to an abrupt halt. Terwindt’s team is developing methods to build predictive models based on personal data. Lifestyle factors, brain activity, and smartphone data are combined with artificial intelligence (AI) to gain insight into each patient’s unique triggers.

“We hope that in the future, people can be warned in time about an impending attack, allowing them to respond effectively or even prevent it,” says Terwindt. Her research is supported by the Leiden University Fund (LUF).

LUMC is the only academic hospital in the Netherlands that focuses specifically on headache research.