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Women with rosacea at higher risk for migraine

Women with rosacea had a significantly higher risk for incident migraine compared with the general Danish population, according to study results recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Alexander Egeberg , MD, PhD, of the department of dermatology and allergy, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues used nationwide registers of all Danish citizens aged 18 years or older to study the prevalence of and risk for new-onset migraine in patients with rosacea. Cox regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios.

There were 4,361,688 Danish Citizens (mean age, 48.6 years; 50.6% women), including 49,475 patients with rosacea (mean age, 53.7 years; 68% women). The reference population had a baseline prevalence of migraine of 7.3%, compared with 12.1% in the rosacea cohort.

Patients with rosacea had an adjusted hazard ratio of new-onset migraine of 1.31 (95% CI, 1.23-1.39).

There was no increased risk for migraine in 594 patients with phymatous rosacea (adjusted HR = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.11-1.8), while 6,977 patients with ocular rosacea experienced a 69% increased risk (adjusted HR = 1.69; 95% CI, 1.43-1.99) in subtype analyses.

The risk for migraine was highest among patients with rosacea aged 50 years and older when stratified by age, and risk was only significant among women when stratified based on sex.

“We found a significantly higher prevalence and risk of new-onset migraine in female patients with rosacea, compared with the general population,” the researchers wrote. “The risk was highest among older individuals, and in particular among individuals with ocular rosacea. These data add to the accumulating evidence for a link between rosacea and the central nervous system.” – by Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: Egeberg reports receiving research funding and/or consultancy honoraria from Pfizer and Eli Lilly. Please see the full study for a list of other researchers’ relevant financial disclosure.