Genetic links between migraine and blood sugar levels confirmed

Mr Islam said the researchers performed cross-trait analyses to estimate genetic correlation, identify shared genomic regions, loci, genes, and pathways, and then tested for causal relationships.

“Out of the nine glycaemic traits we looked at, we found a significant genetic correlation for fasting insulin (blood insulin level) and glycated haemoglobin with both migraine and headache, while two-hour glucose was genetically correlated only with migraine,” he said.

“We also found regions harbouring genetic risk factors shared between migraine and fasting insulin, fasting glucose, and glycated haemoglobin, and for headache, shared regions with glucose, fasting insulin, glycated haemoglobin, and fasting proinsulin.

“Further analyses produced evidence for a causal relationship between migraine and headache with multiple glycaemic traits.

“Our findings provide avenues to develop novel treatment strategies for managing glycaemic traits in migraine and headache patients, particularly increasing fasting proinsulin level to protect against headache.”

Reference:

Islam, M.R., The International Headache Genetics Consortium (IHGC). & Nyholt, D.R. Cross-trait analyses identify shared genetics between migraine, headache, and glycemic traits, and a causal relationship with fasting proinsulin. Hum Genet (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-023-02532-6