The results consistently demonstrate a positive family history in about 60% of youth with migraine. The results of twin studies implicate genetic factors underlying approximately one third of the familial clustering of migraine, but the mode of inheritance is clearly complex.[92] Despite an increasing number of candidate gene association studies of migraine, to date, no replicated linkage or associations between specific genes and migraine have emerged, except
for hemiplegic migraine. However, recent collaborative efforts to combine data from numerous investigators across several countries are beginning to provide sufficient power to detect genetic markers that may be associated with migraine.[93-95] There has been little research on environmental risk factors for migraine. For example, head injuries Selleckchem LY2109761 have been shown to precipitate migraine, particularly in people with a family history of migraine. The association between migraine with parental
characteristics such as income, education, and socioeconomic status has also been examined.[76, 77] Whereas some studies report increased rates of migraine among offspring of parents with higher education,[76] others show higher rates among those in lower socioeconomic classes.[74] Bigal et al[77] proposed that low income may be an index of environmental susceptibility to migraine because he and his colleagues found a particularly potent association between low income and migraine in adolescents without a family history of migraine. However, Le et al[96] conclude that lower education and socioeconomic status could also be a consequence of migraine. Nevertheless, elucidation of the effect of environmental exposures as causal INCB024360 molecular weight or provocative influences on
migraine is clearly an important future direction in this research. General population samples are critical for investigating associations between migraine and other disorders. In fact, the first reference to the term “comorbidity” described potential confounding and bias in treatment trials that fail to consider secondary conditions that are overrepresented in clinical samples.[97] Although comorbidity of migraine and numerous other conditions have long been reported in clinical samples, etiologic inferences are precluded by the role of comorbid disorders in treatment seeking for primary disorders.[98, 99] There is now a strong evidence base from population-based surveys regarding Selleckchem Gefitinib associations between migraine and musculoskeletal conditions, cardiovascular disease, particularly ischemic stroke, asthma, allergies, and other immune and inflammatory disorders, and epilepsy.[6, 49, 54, 99, 100] Although most studies of comorbidity have been conducted in Europe and the U.S., there are also emerging data from Africa,[19] Asia,[69, 101, 102] and South America.[58] Many of these studies have examined the specificity of the associations between comorbid disorders with migraine by including comparison groups of non-migraine headache and other pain conditions.