Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jul 24:24:60.
doi: 10.4103/jrms.JRMS_464_18. eCollection 2019.

Migraine and gastric disorders: Are they associated?

Ahmad Hormati  1   2 , Nayyereh Akbari  3 , Ehsan Sharifipour  3 , Seyyed Amir Hejazi  3 , Fatemeh Jafari  1 , Faezeh Alemi  1 , Abolfaz Mohammadbeigi  1
Affiliations

Migraine and gastric disorders: Are they associated?

Ahmad Hormati et al. J Res Med Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Migraine is a common disorder which affects quality of life. There has been an increasing interest for discovering the association of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders with migraine during past years. This study aims to evaluate the association of Helicobacter pylori contamination, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), gastric ulcer (GU), and duodenal ulcer (DU) with migraine in patients who underwent upper GI endoscopy due to refractory dyspepsia.

Materials and methods: In this observational cross-sectional study, 341 dyspeptic patients who underwent upper GI endoscopy in Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Qom, Iran, included during 2016-2018. A checklist was used for collecting demographics, symptoms, and results from endoscopy and H. pylori testing. Diagnosis of migraine was made according to the International Headache Society criteria in patients who had headache. Data were analyzed using Chi-square and independent samples t-tests in SPSS 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) with P < 0.05 as significance level.

Results: Among 341 patients, 141 (% 41.3) were male and 200 (58.7%) were female. 149 (43.7%) patients were diagnosed with migraine, from which 48 (32.2%) were male and 101 (67.8%) were female. The observed difference in migraine prevalence among male and female was statistically significant (P = 0.003). 198 (58.06%) patients were H. pylori contaminated, among these 138 (69.7%) suffered from migraine. Among 143 H. pylori-negative patients, there were 11 (7.7%) migraineurs. The difference in the prevalence of migraine among H. pylori positive and negative patients was significant. H. pylori and GERD were associated with migraine with P < 0.001. Patients with DU were more commonly suffering from migraine (P = 0.001). The association in patients with GU was not statistically significant (P = 0.863).

Conclusion: Migraine might be associated with GERD, H. pylori infection, and DU, and the treatment of the underlying GI disorder may control headaches.

Keywords: Gastrointestinal diseases; Helicobacter pylori; headache disorders; migraine; peptic ulcer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Farhadi Z, Alidoost S, Behzadifar M, Mohammadibakhsh R, Khodadadi N, Sepehrian R, et al. The prevalence of migraine in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2016;18:e40061. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cutrer FM, Bajwa ZH. Waltham (MA): UpToDate; 1992. [Last updated on 2017 Nov 13]. Up To Date. Pathophysiology, Clinical Manifestations, and Diagnosis of Migraine in Adults. Available from: http://www.UpToDate.comSubscriptionrequired .
    1. Mottaghi T, Askari G, Khorvash F, Maracy MR. Effect of Vitamin D supplementation on symptoms and C-reactive protein in migraine patients. J Res Med Sci. 2015;20:477–82. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sakai Y, Dobson C, Diksic M, Aubé M, Hamel E. Sumatriptan normalizes the migraine attack-related increase in brain serotonin synthesis. Neurology. 2008;70:431–9. - PubMed
    1. Kurth T, Holtmann G, Neufang-Hüber J, Gerken G, Diener HC. Prevalence of unexplained upper abdominal symptoms in patients with migraine. Cephalalgia. 2006;26:506–10. - PubMed