Migraine has been associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Although they're both common diseases, the link between migraine and type 2 diabetes is unknown. Now, a large observational study published online in JAMA Neurology on December 18 has found a correlation: women with migraine have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
To observe the association between migraine and type 2 diabetes, a team of researchers examined data from a large prospective study of French women born between 1925 and 1950. At the start of the study, the 74,247 women in the analysis had a mean age of 61 years and no diagnoses of diabetes.
The participants completed questionnaires about their health, including migraines and type 2 diabetes, every two years beginning in 1990.
From 2004 to 2014, the researchers reviewed the women’s health insurance expenditures for all outpatient reimbursements, including dosages and dates of drug purchases.
Based on questionnaire data compiled between 1992 and 2011, the researchers grouped the women in three main categories: no migraine history; active migraine (women who self-reported migraine on the current questionnaire); and prior migraine (women who reported migraine in at least one past questionnaire but not currently).
In a second analysis, the researchers identified women who developed type 2 diabetes—defined as being treated with diabetes medication at least twice as documented by health insurance reimbursement information—and then looked at the prevalence of migraine in this group over time.
From 2004 to 2014, a total of 2,372 women were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Of this group, 1,562 had no migraine history, 681 had prior migraine, and 129 had active migraine.
The researchers found that women with migraine were 30 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than women without a history of migraine.
Moreover, the number of migraine attacks women experienced declined from 22 percent to 11 percent in the 24 years before they were diagnosed with diabetes and remained at 11 percent at least 22 years after the diagnosis.
"The linear decrease of migraine prevalence long before and the plateau long after type 2 diabetes diagnosis is novel and the association deserves to be studied in other populations," the researchers wrote.
It's unclear whether the findings would be applicable to men or those of other ethnic or racial and socioeconomic backgrounds since the most of the participants were health-conscious white women who were teachers.
