The registry will significantly advance the understanding and treatment of migraine
The American Migraine Foundation has developed the first large-scale U.S. patient registry and biorepository for migraine. Patient registries have positively impacted the lives of people living with a particular disease, and ARMR is uniquely poised to improve the lives of patients with migraine and other headache disorders.
What is ARMR?
The American Registry for Migraine Research (ARMR) integrates over 700 clinical data points on each patient together with biological samples, brain imaging studies, patient-reported outcomes, electronic health record and physician-captured data while leveraging machine learning,algorithms to track patients’ progress over time. AMF Chairman and ARMR Co-Director Dr. David Dodick describes it as “the most comprehensive registry ever built for this disease.”
What does this mean for people living with migraine?
Thanks to ARMR, health care providers will have historical and up-to-date information on their patients at their fingertips, aiding in diagnosis and treatment. According to Dr. Dodick, the registry will also change the way patients with migraine and other disabling headache disorders are treated well into the future. “We hope to learn who is at risk for progression, the factors that predict the response to treatment, who is at risk for the development of other serious diseases associated with migraine such as stroke and depression, and how best to prevent these outcomes.”
AMF also hopes to usher in an era of precision medicine for migraine and headache by being able to identify the treatments that will provide the most benefit without causing harm to the individual patient.
What does this mean for migraine research?
The migraine registry will also pave the way for research into more effective migraine treatment. ARMR collects and stores biological samples to help understand the genetic factors that influence the expression of migraine, while the electronic headache diary feature gives researchers insight into how migraine affects patients’ daily lives, and how patients are responding to different treatment approaches. Dr. Dodick added, “We also hope that this registry improves disease awareness around the world, attracts more clinicians and scientists into the field, and fosters collaborative research.”
The American Migraine Foundation founded ARMR to drive and support innovative research that will lead to improvement in the lives of individuals living with migraine and other headache types.