title: Association between eating disorders and migraine may be explained by major depression.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The association between eating disorders and migraine remains unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified women with lifetime diagnoses of anorexia nervosa (AN) (N = 55) and bulimia nervosa (BN) (N = 60) and their co-twins from the FinnTwin16 cohort born in 1975-1979 (N = 2,825 women). Eating disorder and major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnoses were obtained from clinical interviews and data on migraine by self-report questionnaire. The women with eating disorders were compared with their unaffected co-twins and with unrelated women from the same birth cohorts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of migraine was 12% in the general female population, but 22% for both AN and BN (odds ratio 2.0, p = .04). The prevalence of MDD was high in women with an eating disorder (42%). MDD was strongly associated with migraine (odds ratio 3.0, p < .0001) and explained the association between eating disorders and migraine. The highest migraine prevalence (36%) was found in women with both an eating disorder and MDD. Pairwise twin analyses also supported the clustering of migraine, MDD and eating disorders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women with a lifetime diagnosis of an eating disorder were twice as likely to report a history of migraine as unrelated women from the same cohort; this relationship was explained by comorbid MDD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mustelin
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raevuori
authors.forename: Jaakko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaprio
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keski-Rahkonen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000453:epidemiology*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D057566:Self Report
keywords: anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; epidemiology; major depression; migraine