Migraine and depression link found for women

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDFeb 23 2012

A new study finds that women who suffer from migraine headaches may be about 40% more likely to develop depression than women who have never had migraines. The results will be presented in April at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology at New Orleans.

Researcher Tobias Kurth, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston said, “This is one of the first large studies to examine the association between migraine and the development of depression over time… We hope our findings will encourage doctors to speak to their migraine patients about the risk of depression and potential ways to prevent depression.”

For the study the researchers looked at the risk of depression among 36,154 women who took part in the Women’s Health Study. None of the women had depression at the start of the study. They divided the women into four groups;

• Those with active migraine with aura
• Those with active migraine without aura
• Those with past history of migraine (but not within the past year)
• Those with no history of migraine

Aura are visual disturbances like flashing lights sometimes associated with migraine headaches. During about 14 years of follow-up, 3,971 women were diagnosed with depression.

The results showed that women with any history of migraine were 36% more likely to develop depression compared to women with no history of migraine. Women with a past history of migraine were 41% more likely to experience depression. Researchers say the increased risk of depression associated with migraine was the same whether it was migraine with or without aura. The study could not draw any conclusions about any possible link between migraine and depression in men because it only looked at women.