Thyroid dysfunction and migraine across racial and age groups: A multinational cohort study

Area of Science:

• Endocrinology and Neurology
• Public Health and Epidemiology

Background:

• Thyroid disorders, including hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, are globally prevalent.
• Migraine is a leading cause of disability worldwide.
• Previous research on thyroid dysfunction and migraine is limited by sample size and diversity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism with migraine.
• To analyze these associations across different racial and age groups.
• To utilize a large, multinational electronic health record database for robust analysis.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study using TriNetX Global Collaborative Network (over 200 million patients).
• Identified adults (18-100 years) with hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, excluding those with psychiatric or sleep disorders, epilepsy, or genetic mutations.
• Compared thyroid cohorts with controls, balancing demographics and clinical characteristics; analyzed migraine diagnosis within 5 years.

Main Results:

• Hypothyroidism associated with higher migraine odds in African American/Black (OR 2.04), White (OR 1.93), and Asian (OR 1.83) individuals.
• Hyperthyroidism also linked to increased migraine odds, most in White (OR 1.64), followed by African American/Black (OR 1.28) and Asian (OR 1.18) individuals.
• Elevated migraine odds observed across all age groups, generally increasing with age; findings consistent in sensitivity analyses.

Conclusions:

• Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are independently associated with increased migraine prevalence.
• These associations are consistent across diverse racial and age demographics.
• Thyroid dysfunction is an important comorbidity in migraine, warranting further investigation.