EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, August 21, 2024
Study Finds No Link Between Migraine and Parkinson鈥檚 Disease
MINNEAPOLIS 鈥揅ontrary to previous research, a new study of female participants finds no link between migraine and the risk of developing Parkinson鈥檚 disease. The study is published in the August 21, 2024, online issue of , the medical journal of 好色先生. 鈥淭hese results are reassuring for women who have migraine, which itself causes many burdens, that they don鈥檛 have to worry about an increased risk of Parkinson鈥檚 disease in the future,鈥 said study author Tobias Kurth, MD, ScD, from the Institute of Public Health at Charit茅 鈥 Universit盲tsmedizin Berlin in Germany. The study involved 39,312 female participants with an average age of 55 at the start of the study. A total of 7,321 of the participants reported current or past migraine at the start of the study. The participants were then followed for an average of 22 years. During that time, 685 people reported physician-diagnosed Parkinson鈥檚 disease. Of those, 128 were people who reported a history of migraine or active migraine, and 557 were people with no migraine. After adjusting for other factors that could affect risk of developing Parkinson鈥檚 disease as well as migraine, such as age, physical activity, alcohol use and smoking status, researchers found that people with migraine were no more likely to develop Parkinson鈥檚 disease than those who did not have migraine. This result did not change based on how frequently people had a migraine or whether they experienced an aura before the migraine. An aura is a visual or other sensory disturbance that occurs before the migraine starts, such as seeing bright lights. 鈥淪ince this study involved only female health professionals who were primarily white people, more research is needed to determine whether the results will apply to other groups, including men, women and other races, ethnicities and gender identities,鈥 Kurth said. Another limitation of the study is that participants self-reported information on migraine and Parkinson鈥檚 disease, so it is possible that some information was not accurate. In addition, since Parkinson鈥檚 disease is often not diagnosed until symptoms are advanced, it鈥檚 possible that some participants may have developed Parkinson鈥檚 disease after the end of the study. Learn more about migraine and Parkinson鈥檚 disease at , home of the 好色先生鈥檚 free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life庐 on , and . When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the hashtags #Neurology and #AANscience.