Migraines Linked to Depression

According to a new study, women with migraine are more likely to develop depression in comparison with women, who do not have migraines. This study established a relation between migraine and the development of depression over a period.

It is believed that this study would serve a helping hand to doctors to tell their migraine patients about the potent risk of depression and the measures to prevent it. The study was based on 14 years of health data and was presented in New Orleans at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

In this study, researchers examined the chances of depression among 36,154 participants of Women’s Health Study. In the initial stage of the study, no woman had depression. The women were categorised under four different heads- active migraine with aura (visual disturbances associated with migraine), active migraine without aura, women with migraine (not with recent history) and women with no migraine history.

 These women were examined for 14 years and it was concluded that women with migraine history have 36% chances of developing migraine compared with women with no migraine history. Women, who had migraine in the past, were 41% more prone to depression. At the end of 14 years, 3,971 women were diagnosed with depression. The presence of aura did not affect the risk of developing depression. 

 An epidemiologist, Dr. Tobias Kurth, said that women, who are suffering with migraine, should not presume that they will develop depression instead they should understand that they have an increased risk of developing it. There are no theories to explain the association of migraine with elevated chances of depression. Migraine affects women three times more than men. Therefore, women are at a higher risk of depression. No evidence has shown that treating migraine will decrease the risk of depression.