Children with Migraines May Face Higher Risk for Celiac Disease

Celiac.com 10/10/2008 - New evidence suggests that children who suffer from migraines face a greater risk of developing celiac disease. Migraines have been previously tied to classic celiac disease, but have not been well studied in cases of asymptomatic celiac disease.

Spurred by the fact that most people with celiac disease either have no symptoms at all, or present symptoms other than the traditional intestinal complaints, a team of Turkish researchers led by Dr. Fusan Alehan set out to study the connection between migraines and asymptomatic celiac disease.

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The team studied 73 migraine patients from 6 to 17 years old, along with 147 controls. Four of these migraine patients (5.5%) along with one of the control patients (0.6%) tested positive for serum tissue transglutaminase IgA (tTGA) antibodies, which is indicative of celiac disease.

Two of the tTGA-positive participants declined biopsy, while three of the four migraine patients consented to a duodenal biopsy and were shown to have normal histology. As a result of these findings, the research team categorized them as having possible celiac disease.

The researchers found that higher rates of tTG antibodies among migraine patients suggests that migraines and celiac disease might be linked in children, and that this likelihood merits further study.

Cephalagia 2008; 28:945-949.