People with migraine problem twice as likely to suffer from depression

Washington – The prevalence of depression among those suffering from migraine is nearly twice as high as for those without the disease (men: 8.4 percent vs. 3.4 percent; women 12.4 percent vs. 5.7 percent), a new study has suggested.

In the paper, investigators reported that younger migraine sufferers were particularly at risk for depression.

Lead author, Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson, Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, said that women with migraines who were younger than 30 had six times the odds of depression in comparison to sufferers who were aged 65 and over.

Unmarried individuals and migraine sufferers who had difficulties with daily activities also had high odds of depression.

Data drawn from a representative sample of more than 67,000 Canadians, the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey, were used to examine gender-specific associations between migraine and depression. More than 6,000 respondents reported that they had been diagnosed by a health professional with migraines.

Consistent with prior research, the prevalence of migraines was much higher in women than men, with one in every seven women, compared to one in every 16 men, reporting that they had migraines.

The study has been published online in the journal Depression Research and Treatment.