Research suggests that genes account for up to 60% of a person’s risk of having the condition.
Almost one-third of all people with migraines experience auras. These are sensory symptoms, such as flashing lights, that occur before or during a headache.
However, whether the two main subtypes of migraine — with aura (MA) or without aura (MO) — are genetically distinct conditions has been a controversial topic.
Researchers have now conducted the largest genetic study of migraine to date.
Matti Pirinen, Ph.D., who is an associate professor of statistics at the University of Helsinki in Finland and led one of the research groups that performed the study, spoke with MNT about the findings:
Based on our results, it seems that most genetic risk factors are shared between MO and MA, but we also observed a few genetic variants that confer risk only for MA or only for MO, which shows that there are also some genetic differences between these two subtypes of migraine. Genetic risk factors of a particular subtype of the disease can be important clues for future development of more effective drugs against that subtype of the disease.
