There may be a connection between childhood asthma and migraine headaches, reports Medscape.

Investigators collected detailed demographic and medical data through parent interviews and from medical records. The information included history of allergy and atopic diseases (asthma, allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, IgE-mediated food allergy, atopic dermatitis) and use of antiallergic therapies.

In the migraine group, 28.4% had a history of asthma compared with 31.1% in the control group.

Compared with the absence of asthma, persistent asthma was associated with increased risk for migraine (odds ratio [OR] 4.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.04 – 10.24). This was the case for both migraine with aura and migraine without aura.

Children with migraine were less likely to have been treated with inhaled or nasal corticosteroid (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.15 – 0.76) or antihistamine therapy (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.18 – 0.60). Again, subgroup analysis for migraine groups confirmed the negative association.

Get the whole story at www.medscape.com