Diabetes and Migraine May Have a Bidirectional Link

Key clinical point: Diabetes may have a bidirectional association with migraine risk. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) reduced the risk for migraine, whereas migraine without aura increased the risk for diabetes.

Major findings: Diabetes did not significantly affect the overall risk for migraine (odds ratio [OR], 0.85; P = .13). However, individuals with T1D had a lower risk for migraine (OR, 0.48; P = .002) than those without diabetes. Conversely, migraine did not significantly increase the risk for diabetes (OR, 1.00, P = .99), but individuals with migraine without aura had a higher risk for diabetes (OR, 1.19; P = .03) than those without migraine.

Study details: This meta-analysis included eight cross-sectional studies (131,361 patients with diabetes and 1,005,604 patients with migraine) and four cohort studies (103,205 patients with diabetes and 32,197 patients with migraine).

Disclosure: The study was funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea, and the National Research Foundation of Korea. One author is a junior editor at The Journal of Headache and Pain, and another serves on its board and has received grants from the Korea Health Industry Development Institute.

Source: Ha WS, Nguyen VK, Chu MK. Epidemiological linkage between migraine and diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Headache Pain. 2024;25:158. Source