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Comorbid Sleep Disorders Common in Chronic Migraine Patients
Patients with chronic migraine, as compared to episodic migraine, displayed higher rates of comorbid sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and insomnia, according to new research presented via poster at the 2022 American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting, held in Denver, CO, July 9-12 and virtually.
“It has recently been shown that a dysregulation in common nervous system pathways may underlie migraine and sleep disorders,” the authors noted in the study background.
Researchers conducted a retrospective, single-center, epidemiological analysis of comorbid migraine and sleep conditions using data from the Leaf research database that included 1,853,595 patients from the University of Washington Medical Center between October 2015 and October 2021. Of these patients, 8,709 had chronic migraine and 41,235 had episodic migraine.
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While episodic migraine was more prevalent, only 3084 (7%) cases presented with OSA. In contrast, 1173 (13%) of patients with chronic migraine had OSA. Following this pattern, those with chronic migraine also displayed higher incidence of comorbid insomnia, restless leg syndrome, hypersomnia, and narcolepsy.
Additionally, the results indicated that chronic migraine and comorbid sleep disorders predominately affected women. Nearly 80% of the 8709 patients diagnosed with chronic migraine were female. Further, 72% of those presenting comorbid chronic migraine and OSA, and 82% of those presenting comorbid chronic migraine and insomnia, were female.
“Based on these findings, we recommend that all patients presenting with headaches, especially with [chronic migraine], should be evaluated for the presence of sleep disorders. There are many interventions that can address comorbid sleep disorders, and treatments can decrease and potentially modify migraine transformation from episodic to chronic and improve patient well-being,” the authors concluded.
References
Kim Y, Murinova N. Comorbid sleep disorders in patients with migraine: A single-center study. Poster presented at: AHS 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting; July 9-12, 2022; Denver, Colorado.
