Prevalence of Migraine Headache among Patients with Allergic Rhinitis in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Puducherry

Allergic rhinitis is one of the most common and undertreated diseases in the world. In recent times, there has been increased development of non-sinus headaches among patients with allergic rhinitis. Various common endogenous molecules such as nitric oxide, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and histamine have been implicated in the development of migraines, which leads to the development of migraines among allergic rhinitis patients. The study aims to determine the prevalence of migraine among allergic rhinitis patients and to find the association between the various demographic factors and the presence of migraine. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the ENT department of a tertiary care hospital in Puducherry. All patients aged more than 18 years old with the symptoms of allergic rhinitis were included in the study. The study was conducted six months, from July 2023 to December 2023. ARIA classification is used to determine the severity of the allergic rhinitis, and, per International criteria for headache, was used to diagnose migraine. A total of 282 patients with allergic rhinitis participated in the study. The mean age of the patients was found to be 38.89 +/- 11.04 years. The prevalence of migraine among allergic rhinitis patients was found to be 69.1%-Economic status (39.4%). About 16.7% of the patients with diabetes were associated with migraine. The study showed a significant association between sex (p-0.006), age (p < 0.001), and socio-economic status (p-0.034) with the presence of migraine. The study also showed a significant association between the severity of allergic rhinitis and the presence of migraine (p-0.034) and the type of migraine (p-0.004). The study concludes that a significant proportion of the patients with allergic rhinitis were associated with migraine. So, clinicians should always screen for the presence of the migraine in all patients with allergic rhinitis to improve the patient's quality of life.