12th Sep 2014
Rada Rouse all articles by this author
PEOPLE who experience migraine with aura have more than twice the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in later life, according to findings from a large population-based study.
Given that previous studies have associated movement disorders with individuals who suffer from migraine, researchers involved with a large cohort study in Iceland examined the association in participants over 25 years.
Among 5620 people aged 33–65 at baseline, about 1000 had headaches, 430 had migraine with aura and 238 had migraine with no aura.
Parkinsonian symptoms were more common in participants with mid-life headache compared to those with no headache, with participants experiencing migraine with aura having more than three times the likelihood of symptoms.
A total 1.2% of participants self-reported a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
The rate was highest among people with migraine with aura (2.4% compared to 1.1% among those with no headaches), the study showed.
The researchers, from the US and Iceland and funded in part by the US National Institutes of Health, found people with a history of headache were also more likely to develop restless legs syndrome.
The researchers said it was possible that there was a shared cerebral vulnerability between patients with migraine and those with movement disorder.
“Dopaminergic dysfunction, common to both parkinsonism and [restless legs syndrome], has been hypothesised as a causal factor in migraine pathogenesis for many years,” the authors wrote.
Symptoms of migraine such as excessive yawning, nausea and vomiting are thought to be related to dopamine receptor stimulation, they said.
Neurology 2014; in press
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