Research into the causes of irritable bowel syndrome have often pointed out that people who suffer from this digestive disorder have more headache Where migraines than those who do not have abdominal pain. Dr Derya Uluduz, from Istanbul University in Turkey, and his colleagues therefore sought to find out whether there was a link between the two pathologies.
For this study, which will be presented at the next Annual Neurology Congress to be held in Vancouver (Canada) in April, the researchers recruited 107 patients with episodic migraines, 53 patients with episodic tension headaches, 107 patients with irritable bowel syndrome and 53 “healthy” control patients.
A common genetic origin
By evaluating the health of these patients, they found that those who suffered from migraine were almost twice as likely to suffer from an irritable bowel as well (54.2% vs. 28.3%). And among the patients with irritable bowel syndrome, 35.2% also had migraines and 22.4% tension headaches.
Turkish researchers then looked for a possible genetic link and found that people with migraine, tension headaches and irritable bowel syndrome had at least one gene that differed from the genes of healthy participants: the serotonin transporter gene or the serotonin receptor 2A gene.
“Further studies are needed to explore this possible link but it could lead to new treatment strategies for these chronic diseases” Dr Uluduz said.
Source:American Academy of Neurology
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