Childhood Abuse Linked to Adult Migraines

Physical or sexual abuse experienced in childhood may predispose victims to migraine with depression">depression later in life, shows a study of 949 female migraine sufferers.

The research, conducted by Dr. Gretchen Tietjen, a neurologist at the University of Toledo, shows that women who suffer from this debilitating duo are twice as likely to report having been sexually abused as children than women with migraine alone. When the abuse continued past age 12, migraineurs were five times as likely to report depression. Women with migraine and depression were also twice as likely to have experienced multiple forms of maltreatment and to have witnessed substance abuse or abusive behavior in their childhood homes as women with migraine alone.

Among the women studied, 40 percent reported experiencing 15 or more headaches per month. Eighteen percent of participants suffered from major depression while 38 percent had experienced either physical or sexual abuse and 12 percent reported both physical and sexual abuse.

The findings provide further evidence linking child abuse and neglect to lasting neurobiological disruptions and physical health problems.

ABSTRACT: History of childhood maltreatment is associated with comorbid depression in women with migraine