A recent article in Medical News Today comes to the conclusion that there is a link between migraines and inflammatory bowel disease. Both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis belong to inflammatory bowel disease. Every year 1 billion people suffer from at least one migraine attack. There is often an association between migraines and other diseases:
- Stroke
- Heart disease
- Sleeping issues
- Epilepsy
- Anxiety and depression.
Now a study from March 2021 showed an association between inflammatory bowel disease and migraines and severe headaches.
Current study from South Korea
Researchers published a much larger study about this topic on Jan. 12, 2024. There was a total of 10,628,070 people (age 20 years or older) who physicians screened for migraines. The researchers followed patients along from 2009 to 2017. 3% of the population suffered from migraines. Patients who suffered from migraines also had a higher prevalence of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In addition, patients with migraines were 1.58-fold more likely to develop Crohn’s disease than controls without migraines. Patients with migraines were also 1.26-fold more likely to develop ulcerative colitis compared to controls. Conversely, those who suffered from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis had a higher risk of suffering from migraines. In the case of Crohn’s disease, it took about 5 years before there was a clear association in migraine sufferers with this inflammatory bowel disease.
Connection between brain and gut
Dr. Brooks D. Cash is a professor and chief of the division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at UT Health Houston in Texas. He was not part of the study. “Right now, all we have are hypotheses,” he continued. “Are there changes in the gut-brain communication pathways or sensory perceptions in the enteric and central nervous systems? Is the gut microbiome involved? Are there psychological and stress-mediated factors at play?” “Once clinical relationships such as these have been identified, we need to move toward trying to explain why those relationships may exist,” Dr. Cash added. “That, in turn, may lead us to develop more targeted and effective therapies that can address multiple symptoms/syndromes.”
There Is A Link between Migraines And Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Conclusion
Recently a large publication showed that there is a clear association between patients suffering from migraines and the risk of developing Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Researchers are working on finding out what the reasons are behind this correlation. In the meantime, physicians should be aware that there is this link. When they follow migraine sufferers they should at the same time screen them for symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease.
