A Survey on Migraine Prevalence in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease - A Single Centre Experience

BACKGROUND It is hypothesized that migraine may be related to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), therefore in this cross-sectional study we evaluated the prevalence of migraine in patients with IBD. METHODS In this cross-sectional study 80 patients with IBD and 80 patients without IBD referring to a private gastroenterology clinic from May to January 2014 were evaluated regarding the prevalence of migraine, severity of migraine based on Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), and habits related to headache. RESULTS 160 participants with the mean age of 35 years were evaluated. The prevalence of migraine in the case group was significantly higher than the control (21.3% vs. 8.8%, p=0.027). Moreover, duration of each attack (hours) in IBD group was significantly higher than the control group (p<0.001) while the duration of migraine involvement (months) and number of attacks was higher in the control group (p=0.019 and 0.048, respectively). Headache other than migraine in the control group was significantly higher than the IBD group (p<0.001). Disability in the case group was more than the control group but the difference was not significant. The correlation between the severity of disability related to migraine (based on HIT-6) and severity of IBD (based on Mayo score & Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI)) was not significant (r=0.16, p=0.58). Moreover the correlation between the duration of IBD and migraine prevalence was not significant (r=-0.14, p=0.19). CONCLUSION We found that the prevalence of migraine in patients with IBD is significantly more than normal population. More studies are needed to highlight the correlation between migraine and IBD.