Parental history of migraine and bronchial asthma in children.

BACKGROUND: a possible association between migraine and various allergic disorders have been reported. It was aimed in this study to inquire the association between bronchial asthma in children and parental history of migraine.

METHODS AND RESULTS: parental history of allergic diseases and migraine were inquired among 140 asthmatic children (91 males, 49 females) and 110 age and sex matched control subjects who had not any allergic or hypersensitivity disorders, followed-up at Pediatric outpatient clinics of Dicle University Hospital. While 13 of 140 asthmatic children (9.3%) had parental history of migraine, 2 of 110 control subjects (1.8%) had parental migraine history. Difference between asthmatic and control subjects was significant (OR: 5.5, 95% Cl: 1.3-25.0). Children who had parental history of migraine also had significantly more frequent parental history of asthma, eczema and particularly allergic rhinitis (p=0.007).

CONCLUSIONS: our results suggest that children are at increased risk of asthma if their parents have a history of migraine. Migraine in one generation and asthma in the next lead to the conclusion that the two disorders may have a relationship to a common denominator.