Menstrual Disorders and its Association with Migraine

Abstract

Introduction: Migraine is a common disorder which can be seen in approximately 18% of women. The highest prevalence of this disorder has been reported vastly in the women of age between 18 and 49, when they are in the menstrual period and this is supposed to be associated with the same. Aim: To study the menstrual disorders in women with and without migraine. Materials and Methods: A case-control study was conducted with total population of 175 women (Jan 2018-Feb 2019), diagnosed with migraine, using International Headache Society criteria. Age and sex-matched control group was included in the present study. A semi-structured questionnaire about migraine and migraine-related disabilities, menstrual and headache history was conducted. All results were evaluated by SPSS version 22.0 statistical software; Independent t-test and to investigate the relationship between quantitative variables, Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used. Results: In case group, 25.6% of women had menstrual cycle 38 days, which was significantly more than control group. The proportion of women with period lasting <4 days in case group (17.4%) was significantly more than that in control group (6.7%). In addition, the percentage of women with last period more than 8 days in case group was 12.8% and in control groups it was (6.7%) which was significantly high. Conclusion: There is significant relation between period duration, oligomenorrhea, polymenorrhea and prevalence of migraine; however, there is no significant relation between other menstrual disorders such as dysmenorrhea and menstrual regularity with migraine. This study demonstrates no relation between severity and duration of headache and menstrual disorders.

Keywords

• female
• headache
• menstrual migraine