Could Migraine Increase Certain Patients’ IBS Risk?

A new study found that migraine was a risk factor for developing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) among patients without comorbid mood disorders, but not for those with comorbid mood disorders.

Presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting, held April 15-21 in Vancouver, British Columbia, the study scoured Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database records to pinpoint 2859 individuals and 5718 control patients matched by age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, and mood disorders. Patients with preexisting catastrophic illnesses and an IBS diagnosis before or within 30 days of the index visit were excluded from the study.
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The authors, who acknowledge the link between mood disorders such as anxiety and depression and a higher risk for migraine and IBS, noted that the part mood disorders play in the relationship between migraine and IBS is not fully understood.

For this study, the researchers compared patients with mood disorders’ risk for developing IBS with those who do not have a mood disorder, and followed patients for 7 years, or until they were diagnosed with IBS or were lost to follow-up.

Among patients with migraine, 8.4% developed IBS, compared with 5.4% among the control group. The investigators found a connection between with migraine and developing IBS, and found a substantially greater risk of IBS in patients without mood disorders. The authors did not find the same association, however, in patients who did not have coexisting mood disorders.

—Mark McGraw

Reference:

Chen Y-Y, Wu M-F. Complex relationship among migraine, irritable bowel syndrome and mood disorders. Presented at American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting. April 15-21, 2016; Vancouver, British Columbia.