Migraine More Prevalent in Women With Endometriosis

TUESDAY, March 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Women with endometriosis more often have migraine, especially those with endometriosis and co-occurring adenomyosis, according to a study published online Jan. 24 in Frontiers in Endocrinology.

Yingchen Wu, from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues examined the association between migraine and endometriosis in a case-control study involving 167 patients with endometriosis and 190 patients with other benign gynecological conditions and performed from September 2017 to January 2021. Among the endometriosis patients, 49 with adenomyosis were detected. In addition, 41 adenomyosis patients without endometriosis were included.

The researchers found that migraine was significantly more prevalent in patients with endometriosis versus controls (29.9 versus 12.1 percent), but prevalence was similar for isolated adenomyosis patients and controls (9.8 versus 12.1 percent). Participants with migraine were significantly more likely to have severe endometriosis (odds ratio, 4.6); the strength of the association was attenuated for moderate endometriosis (odds ratio, 3.6) and not significant for mild and minimal endometriosis. Among participants with migraine, the risk for endometriosis coexisting with adenomyosis was increased, with odds ratios of 5.4 compared with controls and 2.2 compared with patients with endometriosis without coexisting adenomyosis.

"Notably, due to a lack of diagnostic markers, the diagnosis of endometriosis and migraine is often missed or delayed; it is advisable to heighten suspicion for patients who [present] with either [of] these conditions in order to optimize therapy," the authors write.

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