People who suffer from epilepsy have an increased risk of developing migraine with aura because of a genetic link, according to a new analysis.
Published yesterday, it is the first study of its kind to establish a shared genetic susceptibility to epilepsy and migraine.
Dr Melodie Winawer, of Columbia University Medical Centre, New York, USA, said although epilepsy and migraine are individually influenced by genetic factors, this research confirms for the first time a shared genetic susceptibility to epilepsy and migraine in a large population of patients with common forms of seizure.
The study used data collated from participants in the Phenome/Genome Project (EPGP) and the findings were published yesterday (January 7) in Epilepsia, a journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE).
Scientists looked at 730 participants from 501 families in EPGP, a genetic study of epilepsy patients and families from 27 clinical centres in the USA, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, and focused sibling and parent-child pairs with focal epilepsy or generalised epilepsy of unknown cause.
They found that the prevalence of migraine with aura (MA) was substantially increased when several people in the family had seizures.
EPGP study participants with epilepsy, who had three or more additional close relatives with a seizure disorder, were more than twice as likely to experience MA as patients from families with fewer individuals with seizures.
“Our study demonstrates a strong genetic basis for migraine and epilepsy, because the rate of migraine is increased only in people who have close (rather than distant) relatives with epilepsy and only when three or more family members are affected,” explains Dr Winawer.
“Further investigation of the genetics of groups of comorbid disorders and epilepsy will help to improve the diagnosis and treatment of these comorbidities, and enhance the quality of life for those with epilepsy.”
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