Asthma increases risk of future chronic migraines, study reveals

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Individuals who suffer from pre-existing asthma are very likely to suffer from chronic migraine attacks in the future, according to a study.

Findings published in the journal Headache by the American Headache Society found that those with asthma may have future migraines as these disorders "involve inflammation and activation of smooth muscle either in blood vessels or in the airways."

"Therefore, asthma-related inflammation may lead to migraine progression," said Dr. Richard Lipton, director of Montefiore Headache Center, co-author of the study, via Medical Xpress.

For their research, the researchers looked at the 2008 and 2009 American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention (AMPP) studies. They looked at about 4,500 individuals and divided them into two, those who have episodic migraines per month with asthma and those with episodic migraine and no asthma. The participants were asked about the frequency of their headaches, tobacco use, episodic migraines, use of medication and or depression.

"In this study, persons with episodic migraine and asthma at baseline were more than twice as likely to develop chronic migraine after one year of follow-up as compared to those with episodic migraine but not asthma," said Dr. Vincent Martin, lead author and professor of medicine in UC's Division of General Internal Medicine. "If you have asthma along with episodic or occasional migraine, then your headaches are more likely to evolve into a more disabling form known as chronic migraine."

In the 2008 survey, 17 percent were asthmatic and by next year, almost 3% of those who completed the first survey were having chronic migraines, UPI reports.

"The strength of the relationship is robust; asthma was a stronger predictor of chronic migraine than depression, which other studies have found to be one of the most potent conditions associated with the future development of chronic migraine,".

As to why the two are linked, researchers can only give a hypothesis. An article published by University of Cincinnati states that allergies and hay fever in asthma suffers may trigger headaches which could develop into migraines.

Another possible reason could be because of genetics or environment pollutants like the air quality which plays a role in asthma and migraine attacks. It could also be because of the sufferer's parasympathetic nervous system which becomes very active during episodes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are over 8 percent or 18.7 million American adults that are afflicted with asthma and around 9.3 percent or 6.8 million for children.