Chalmer MA, Rasmussen AH, Kogelman LJA, Olesen J, Hansen TF. Chronic migraine: Genetics or environment?
Eur J Neurol 2021;
28:1726-1736. [PMID:
33428804 PMCID:
PMC8247872 DOI:
10.1111/ene.14724]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The transition from episodic migraine to chronic migraine, migraine chronification, is usually a gradual process, which involves multiple risk factors. To date, studies of the genetic risk factors for chronic migraine have focused primarily on candidate-gene approaches using healthy individuals as controls.
AIMS AND METHODS
In this study, we used a large cohort of migraine families and unrelated migraine patients (n > 2200) with supporting genotype and whole-genome sequencing data. We evaluated whether there are any genetic variants, common or rare, with a specific association to chronic migraine compared with episodic migraine.
RESULTS
We found no aggregation of chronic migraine in families with a clustering of migraine. No specific rare variants gave rise to migraine chronification, and migraine chronification was not associated with a higher polygenic risk score. Migraine chronification was not associated with allelic associations with an odds ratio above 2.65. Assessment of effect sizes with genome-wide significance below an odds ratio of 2.65 requires a genome-wide association study of at least 7500 chronic migraine patients.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that migraine chronification is caused by environmental factors rather than genetic factors.
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