Association between migraine, constipation and lactose intolerance in adults patients

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Considering the bidirectional connection between intestine and brain, the present study examined the association between migraine, lactose intolerance, and intestinal constipation in patients with status migrainosus. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional retrospective study that included 97 patients aged 20 years or older. The impact of pain was assessed by the Migraine Disability Assessment and the Headache Impact Test-6 questionnaires. The pain intensity was measured by the visual analog scale. Chi-square and Student-t tests were used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 88.7% women, 56.8% overweight, 76.3% sedentary, 32% constipated and 23.7% lactose intolerant. Higher pain intensity (8.9±1.3) and impact pain mean was assessed by the Headache Impact Test-6 (67.6±5.3) and the Migraine Disability Assessment (36.7±26.3) in constipated patients compared to those without constipation. Lactose-intolerant patients presented higher migraine mean time (19.9±14.2) compared to lactose tolerant patients. Constipated and lactose intolerant patients presented higher prevalence of overweight (58.1 and 65.2%) and abdominal obesity (70.0 and 68.2%) compared to non-constipated and lactose tolerant patients, respectively. CONCLUSION: Although were observed in the evaluated sample a considerable prevalence of constipation and lactose intolerance, higher mean scores in the questionnaires used for pain impact and intensity in constipated patients and longer migraine diagnosis time in those with lactose-intolerance, there was no statistical significance in the association between migraine and these two gastrointestinal disorders.