Investigating the Association Between Childhood Physical Abuse and Migraine

Background.- Recent clinical and population-based studies suggest that adults who were physically abused as children are more likely to experience migraine than those who were not abused. Objectives.- To investigate the relationship between childhood physical abuse and migraine while controlling for age, race, and gender, in addition to the following potential confounders: adverse childhood conditions; adult socioeconomic indicators; current health behaviors; current stressors; history of physical health conditions, and history of mood and/or anxiety disorders. Methods.- Secondary analysis of the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey was undertaken using a regional sample of 13,089 men and women from Manitoba and Saskatchewan (response rate = 83.3% and 84.1%, respectively) of which 7.4% (n = 1025) of respondents reported childhood physical abuse. A series of logistic regression models were used to determine the association between abuse and self-report of a health professional diagnosis of migraine. Results.- Prevalence of a migraine was almost twice as high for those who reported childhood physical abuse in comparison with those who did not (17.9% vs 8.8%). The crude odds ratio was 2.27 (99% CI = 1.80, 2.86). The odds ratio of migraine was 1.77 (99% CI = 1.39, 2.25) for those who reported childhood physical abuse in comparison with those who did not when only age, gender, and race were adjusted for. When all 6 clusters of potential confounders were included in a final model the odds ratio declined but remained significant at 1.36 (99% CI = 1.04, 1.79). Conclusions.- This study found a stable association between childhood physical abuse and migraine that persisted when 6 clusters of potentially confounding factors were adjusted for. Future research should investigate possible mechanisms which explain the abuse-migraine association.