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
. 2023 Jun 29:17:1191091.
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1191091. eCollection 2023.

The impact of exposure to tobacco smoking and maternal trauma in fetal life on risk of migraine

Magdalena Kobus  1 , Aneta Sitek  1 , Bogusław Antoszewski  2 , Jacek J Rożniecki  3 , Jacek Pełka  4 , Elżbieta Żądzińska  1   5
Affiliations

The impact of exposure to tobacco smoking and maternal trauma in fetal life on risk of migraine

Magdalena Kobus et al. Front Neurosci. .

Abstract

Introduction: Prenatal period is the key time in human development. Many prenatal factors are well-known and increase the risk of developing diseases' after birth. Few studies indicated the link between the prenatal period and the prevalence of migraine in childhood and adolescence so far. We decided to broaden current knowledge and investigate whether the prenatal factors influence the prevalence of migraine in adulthood. The objective of this study is to provide evidence of relationship between in utero environment and risk of migraine.

Methods: In total 266 females (136 in the migraine group, 130 in the control group) and 80 males (35 in the migraine group, 45 in the control group), aged 18-65 participated in the study. The quality of prenatal environment was characterized on the basis of mother's and father's education, tobacco smoke exposure, alcohol consumption, and traumatic event during pregnancy, which are considered as prenatal factors and affect on fetal development.

Results: Migraine occurrence in adulthood was significantly associated with maternal tobacco smoking during pregnancy (OR 3.42, 95% CI 1.54-7.61, p = 0.036) and traumatic event during pregnancy (OR 2.27, 95% CI 1.24-4.13, p = 0.020).

Discussion: Our study suggests that the fetal programming effect of tobacco smoking exposure and maternal trauma is not limited to prenatal life and is suggested as having a role in adulthood. Our findings support evidence that migraine adulthood can be partly influenced by early life conditions.

Keywords: headache; migraine; pregnancy; prenatal period; stress; tobacco smoking; trauma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

    1. Abu-Arafeh I., Razak S., Sivaraman B., Graham C. (2010). Prevalence of headache and migraine in children and adolescents: a systematic review of population-based studies. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 52, 1088–1097. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2010.03793.x, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Anttila P., Sourander A., Metsähonkala L., Aromaa M., Helenius H., Sillanpää M. (2004). Psychiatric symptoms in children with primary headache. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 43, 412–419. doi: 10.1097/00004583-200404000-00007, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arruda M. A., Guidetti V., Galli F., Albuquerque R. C., Bigal M. E. (2011). Prenatal exposure to tobacco and alcohol are associated with chronic daily headaches at childhood: a population-based study. Arq. Neuropsiquiatr. 69, 27–33. doi: 10.1590/s0004-282x2011000100007, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barker D. J. (1990). The fetal and infant origins of adult disease. BMJ 301:1111. doi: 10.1136/bmj.301.6761.1111, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnes N. P. (2015). Migraine headache in children. BMJ. Clin. Evid. 2015:0318. PMID: - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources