Migraine is significantly more prevalent in women with endometriosis compared with women without the disorder, according to a study published in Frontiers in Endocrinology.

The case-control study, which sought to clarify links between migraine and endometriosis, included 167 women with endometriosis, and 190 women with other benign gynecologic conditions who served as controls. Among the women with endometriosis, 49 also had adenomyosis. Finally, an additional 41 women in the study had adenomyosis without endometriosis.

Some 29.9% of patients with endometriosis experienced migraine, according to the study, compared with 12.1% of controls and 9.8% of patients with adenomyosis without endometriosis.

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Among all women with endometriosis and controls, those with migraine were 4.6 times more likely to have severe endometriosis. The strength of the association decreased with endometriosis stage: migraine was associated with a 3.6 odds ratio for moderate endometriosis, and a 1.9 odds ratio for mild and minimal endometriosis, the study found.

In women with migraine, the risk of endometriosis coexisting with adenomyosis was increased: researchers reported an odds ratio of 5.4 compared with controls. The odds ratio for endometriosis without adenomyosis was 2.2.

“Notably, due to a lack of diagnostic markers, the diagnosis of endometriosis and migraine is often missed or delayed,” wrote Yingchen Wu and coauthors from Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China.. “[I]t is advisable to heighten suspicion for patients who present with either of these conditions in order to optimize therapy.”

Reference

Wu Y, Wang H, Chen S, et al. Migraine is more prevalent in advanced-stage endometriosis, especially when co-occuring with adenomoysis. Front Endocrinol. Published online January 24, 2022. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.814474