Migraine and risk of dementia: a nationwide retrospective cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
Migraines are one of the most common neurological disorders. Dementia is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by slow progressive memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. This retrospective cohort study investigates the association between migraines and dementia using a nationwide population-based database in Taiwan.


METHODS
We retrieved the data analyzed in this study from the National Health Insurance Research database (NHIRD) in Taiwan. We used multivariate Cox proportion-hazards regression models to assess the effects of migraines on the risk of dementia after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and comorbidities.


RESULTS
The migraine cohort had a higher prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, head injury and depression at baseline (p < 0.0001). After adjusting the covariates, migraine patients had a 1.33-fold higher risk of developing dementia [hazard ratio (HR) 1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22-1.46]. The sex-specific incidence rate of dementia was higher in men than in women in both cohorts, with an HR of 1.09 (95% CI 1.00-1.18) for men compared to women. Kaplan-Meier analysis shows that the cumulative incidence of dementia was 1.48% greater in the migraine cohort than in the nonmigraine cohort (log-rank test, p < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that migraines are associated with a future higher risk of dementia after adjusting for comorbidities. Specifically, the association between migraine and dementia is greater in young adults than in older adults.
Department of Neurology, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan.
Chieh-Sen
CS
Chuang
Cheng-Li
CL
Lin
Ming-Chia
MC
Lin
Fung-Chang
FC
Sung
Chia-Hung
CH
Kao
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology