BMJ 1995;311:1227 (4 November)

Letters

Migraine runs in families ..

... but is it inherited?

EDITOR,--Michael Bjorn Russell and Jes Olesen report an increased familial risk of migraine.1 Before migraine is accepted as an inherited disorder, as it is in the heading to the paragraph about the paper on the "This week in BMJ" page, however, all studies and possible biases should be considered.

The paper concentrates on the high prevalence of migraine in first degree relatives of probands with migraine. Surprisingly, however, the figures show that the first degree relatives of probands who had never had migraine had a prevalence of migraine with aura of 5.3% and of migraine without aura of 17.2% (table II). This latter figure is higher than that expected in the general population (table IV). If migraine does aggregate in families one would expect the first degree relatives of probands who had never had migraine to have a significantly lower prevalence than the general population.

. . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Increased familial risk and evidence of genetic factor in migraine
Michael Bjorn Russell and Jes Olesen
BMJ 1995 311: 541-544. [Abstract] [Full Text]

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