Other medical conditions, such as low blood pressure, allergy and psychiatric problems, are more common in people with migraine, concludes a Finnish study.

The Finnish Migraine Gene Project consecutively identified families with at least three first-degree family members affected by migraine who attended outpatient headache clinics from across Finland. In total 1000 participants from 251 families completed a questionnaire.

Migraine sufferers reported more low blood pressure (OR 1.43), allergy (OR 1.83) and psychiatric disorders (OR 4.09), compared to family members without migraine. These conditions were more common in female migraineurs than in male migraine sufferers and in those individuals who experienced migraine with and without aura.

However, the study did find an association between men who have migraine with aura and stroke and epilepsy. This requires further study.

^{Artto V, Wessman M, Nissilä, et al. Comorbidity in Finnish migraine families. J Headache Pain 2006; 7: 324-330.}

What the WHA thinks:

• The questionnaire used was not validated for the other medical health problems, therefore precise incidence or prevalence figures cannot be drawn from the data.
• The link between migraine and allergy or psychiatric conditions has been identified in previous studies.
• The link to low blood pressure is a new association and more data is needed on this as other studies have suggested high blood pressure is more common in migraine.
• While the link between migraine and epilepsy has been seen before, in this study it was only found in men, specifically those with aura.
• However, the numbers in this study (17 men in total) were too small to make any real conclusion.
• Similarly for stroke, the numbers were too small to reach a definitive conclusion, although the link between stroke and migraine has been identified before.