Maternal migraine and the risk of psychiatric disorders in offspring: a population-based cohort study

Maternal migraine may contribute to mental heath problems in offspring but empirical evidence has been available only for bipolar disorders. Our objective was to examine the association between maternal migraine and the risk of any and specific psychiatric disorders in offspring.

This population-based cohort study used individual-level linked Danish national health registers. Participants were all live-born singletons in Denmark during 1978-2012 (n = 2 069 785). Follow-up began at birth and continued until the onset of a psychiatric disorder, death, emigration or 31 December 2016, whichever came first. Cox proportional hazards model was employed to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) of psychiatric disorders.

Maternal migraine was associated with a 26% increased risk of any psychiatric disorders in offspring [HR, 1.26; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.22-1.30]. Increased rates of psychiatric disorders were seen in all age groups from childhood to early adulthood. Increased rates were also observed for most of the specific psychiatric disorders, in particular, mood disorders (HR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.39-1.67), neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders (HR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.37-1.52) and specific personality disorders (HR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.27-1.70), but not for intellectual disability (HR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.71-1.00) or eating disorders (HR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.93-1.29). The highest risk was seen in the offspring of mothers with migraine and comorbid psychiatric disorders (HR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.99-2.28).

Maternal migraine was associated with increased risks of a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders in offspring. Given the high prevalence of migraine, our findings highlight the importance of better management of maternal migraine at childbearing ages for early prevention of psychiatric disorders in offspring.