The relationship between migraine and infant colic: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND
Infant colic is a common and distressing disorder of early infancy. Its etiology is unknown, making treatment challenging. Several articles have suggested a link to migraine.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this article was to perform a systematic review and, if appropriate, a meta-analysis of the studies on the relationship between infant colic and migraine.


METHODS
Studies were identified by searching PubMed and ScienceDirect and by hand-searching references and conference proceedings.


METHODS
For the primary analysis, studies specifically designed to measure the association between colic and migraine were included. For the secondary analysis, studies that collected data on colic and migraine but were designed for another primary research question were also included.


METHODS
Data were abstracted from the original studies, through communication with study authors, or both. Two authors independently abstracted data.


METHODS
The main outcome measure was the association between infant colic and migraine using both a fixed-effects model and a more conservative random-effects model.


RESULTS
Three studies were included in the primary analysis; the odds ratio for the association between migraine and infant colic was 6.5 (4.6-8.9, p < 0.001) for the fixed-effects model and 5.6 (3.3-9.5, p = 0.004) for the random-effects model. In a sensitivity analysis wherein the study with the largest effect size was removed, the odds ratio was 3.6 (95% CI 1.7-7.6, p = 0.001) for both the fixed-effects model and random-effects model.


CONCLUSIONS
In this meta-analysis, infant colic was associated with increased odds of migraine. If infant colic is a migrainous disorder, this would have important implications for treatment. The main limitation of this meta-analysis was the relatively small number of studies included.
Department of Neurology, Division of Child Neurology, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), CA, USA Department of Neurology, Headache Center, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), CA, USA GelfandA@neuropeds.ucsf.edu.
Amy A
AA
Gelfand
Department of Neurology, Headache Center, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), CA, USA.
Peter J
PJ
Goadsby
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), CA, USA.
I Elaine
IE
Allen
D000328:Adult; D003085:Colic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio
Infant colic; migraine; pediatric