Assessment of serum level of melatonin in migraine: a case control study

Abstract

Abstract Background Migraine attacks are reported to be severe enough to affect daily living events and can affect different age groups including early childhood. Chronic migraine is usually associated with several comorbidities such as anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, fibromyalgia, and fatigue. The existence of a bidirectional relationship between sleep and migraine is documented. This study aims at assessing the relationship between serum melatonin, sleep quality, and both migraine and migraine severity. This case–control study was executed on 70 patients and 70 healthy controls. Serum melatonin was assessed in morning and evening blood samples. Patients underwent a thorough clinical examination, assessing migraine severity using the Migraine Disability Assessment Scale and the sleep quality of both groups was evaluated using the sleep quality scale. Results Serum melatonin levels were significantly reduced among migraine patients in both morning and evening samples. Sleep quality was significantly impaired in migraine patients. There is a statistically significant negative correlation between melatonin in both samples and both of frequency of attack and migraine disability. Positive family history, presence of aura and chronic migraine had significantly lower melatonin in both samples compared to those without aura was associated with significantly lower melatonin. Sleep quality was negatively correlated with serum melatonin, and positively correlated with migraine severity and frequency. Conclusion Serum melatonin is significantly reduced among migraineurs, and linked to migraine severity; they also had impaired sleep quality so melatonin administration may represent a chance for improving headache characteristics.

Keywords

• Migraine
• Melatonin
• Disability
• Sleep quality scale