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Abstract
Objective: In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that having migraine in middle age is related to late-life parkinsonism and a related disorder, restless legs syndrome (RLS), also known as Willis-Ekbom disease (WED).
Methods: The AGES-Reykjavik cohort (born 1907–1935) has been followed since 1967. Headaches were classified based on symptoms assessed in middle age. From 2002 to 2006, 5,764 participants were reexamined to assess symptoms of parkinsonism, diagnosis of Parkinson disease (PD), family history of PD, and RLS/WED.
Results: Subjects with midlife migraine, particularly migraine with aura (MA), were in later life more likely than others to report parkinsonian symptoms (odds ratio [OR]MA = 3.6 [95% CI 2.7–4.8]) and diagnosed PD (ORMA = 2.5 [95% CI 1.2–5.2]). Women with MA were more likely than others to have a parent (ORMA = 2.26 [95% CI 1.3–4.0]) or sibling (ORMA = 1.78 [95% CI 1.1–2.9]) with PD. Late-life RLS/WED was increased for headache generally. Associations were independent of cardiovascular disease and MRI-evident presumed ischemic lesions.
Conclusions: These findings suggest there may be a common vulnerability to, or consequences of, migraine and multiple indicators of parkinsonism. Additional genetic and longitudinal observational studies are needed to identify candidate pathways that may account for the comorbid constellation of symptoms.
GLOSSARY
- AGES-Reykjavik Study=
- Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility–Reykjavik Study;
- CVD=
- cardiovascular disease;
- DA=
- dopamine;
- ICD-10=
- International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision;
- MA=
- migraine with aura;
- MO=
- migraine without aura;
- NMH=
- nonmigraine headache;
- OR=
- odds ratio;
- PD=
- Parkinson disease;
- PS=
- parkinsonian symptoms;
- RLS=
- restless legs syndrome;
- RS=
- Reykjavik Study;
- TBI=
- traumatic brain injury;
- WED=
- Willis-Ekbom disease
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
Supplemental data at Neurology.org
- Received March 16, 2014.
- Accepted in final form July 8, 2014.
- © 2014 American Academy of Neurology
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