The Painful Legacy of Childhood Violence: Migraine Headaches Among Adult Survivors of Adverse Childhood Experiences

BackgroundChildhood adversities have been associated with adult migraine in the general population. However, most research has focused on only a few types of maltreatment and has not always controlled for factors correlated with early adversities and migraine. ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between early adversities and migraine, while controlling for a range of potential explanatory factors. MethodsWe analyzed data from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey - Mental Health. Using a representative sample of 10,358 men and 12,638 women, we undertook gender-specific logistic regression analyses to determine the association between number and type of self-reported childhood adversities (physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing parental domestic violence) and migraine, while controlling for sociodemographics, comorbid adversities, health behaviors, depression, and anxiety. ResultsIn total, 6.5% of men and 14.2% of women reported migraines. All three adversities were significantly associated with migraine for both genders, even after controlling for a range of variables. The fully adjusted odds of migraine associated with physical abuse, parental domestic violence, and sexual abuse were 1.61 (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.42-1.83), 1.64 (95% CI=1.39-1.93), and 1.32 (95% CI=1.11-1.57), respectively, for women, and 1.50 (95% CI=1.25-1.80), 1.52 (95% CI=1.16-1.98), and 1.70 (95% CI=1.22-2.36) for men. Greater number of adversities was also associated with increasing odds of migraine. Men reporting all three adversities had over three times (odds ratio=3.26; 95% CI=2.09-5.07) and women over two times (OR=2.85; 95% CI=2.25-3.60) the odds of migraine compared with those without childhood adversities. ConclusionsNumber and type of early adversities are associated with migraine among Canadian men and women.