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The risk for Parkinson disease (PD) in women with any subtype or frequency of migraine is not elevated, according to study results published in Neurology.
Although migraine and PD share common pathophysiologic mechanisms, little information is available on the association between migraine and risk for PD.
Researchers conducted a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial to determine the effect of migraine, including subtypes and frequency, on risk of developing PD in middle-aged and older women.
The researchers used data from the Women’s Health Study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00000479) for the current analysis. Eligible participants were women aged 45 and older with available self-reported information on migraine, and no PD diagnosis.
At baseline, women reported history of migraine, presence of “aura” or any pre-indications of migraine, and frequency of migraine episodes. Participants were categorized into 2 groups based on presence of absence of migraine. Migraine subtypes were also assessed: active migraine with aura, active migraine without aura, history of migraine, and no migraine. Participants were further classified into groups based on frequency of migraine episodes. At follow-up, participants received questionnaires about newly diagnosed PD.
Of 39,312 women included in the current study, 31,991 (81.3%; mean age, 52.9) did not report migraine and 7321 (18.6%; mean age, 53.5) reported migraine. Mean body mass index (BMI) in both groups was 26. The majority of the total cohort reported never smoking, rarely or never consuming alcohol, and rarely/never performing strenuous physical activity.
Of women who reported any migraine, 70.6% had active migraine in the year before baseline and 60.2% had migraine without aura. Approximately 10% of those with active migraine at baseline had migraines less than monthly.
In the primary analysis, a total of 685 cases of PD were reported during a median follow-up of 21.91 years. Of the PD cases, 557 (81.3%) were reported by women without migraine and 128 (18.7%) by women with any migraine.
By the end of follow-up, 9354 (23.8%) women had died.
After adjusting for confounding, the hazard ratio (HR) for the association between any migraine and risk for PD was 1.07 (0.88-1.29), which was not indicative of a significantly greater risk for PD between women with and without migraine.
In the secondary analysis, women with migraine and aura vs without migraine had a lower risk for PD (HR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.59-1.27). Migraine without aura resulted in a slightly higher, but not statistically significant, risk for PD (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.93-1.58). No significant association was found between history of migraine and PD risk (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.76-1.45).
In addition, the researchers did not observe a significant association between migraine frequency and PD risk. Women with monthly vs less than monthly migraine episodes and those with migraine at least weekly vs less frequently had approximately a 1-fold higher risk of developing PD (HR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.64-1.87 and HR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.44-2.76, respectively).
There was also no significant difference between risk of developing PD with migraine vs nonmigraine headache (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.81-1.37).
Limitations of the analysis included the risk for misclassification because information on migraine and PD were self-reported by participants; the lack of accounting for changes in migraine and migraine-specific features during the study period after assessments at enrollment; and the inclusion of only women reduced the sample size and generalizability to other populations.
Overall, the researchers noted, “In this large cohort of women, the risk of developing PD was not elevated among those experiencing migraine, irrespective of migraine subtypes or the frequency of migraine.”
Multiple study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of the authors’ disclosures.
