A research published in the current online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology suggests that migraine and depression may share a strong genetic component.

"Understanding the genetic factors that contribute to these disabling disorders could one day lead to better strategies to manage the course of these diseases when they occur together", said Andrew Ahn, of the University of Florida in Gainesville.

The research work included 2,652 people who took part in the larger Erasmus Rucphen Family study. All of the participants are descendants of 22 couples who lived in Rucphen in the 1850s to 1900s.

Among all the participants, 360 were afflicted with migraine. Further of those, 151 had migraine with aura, which is when headaches are preceded by sensations that affect vision, such as seeing flashing lights, and 209 had migraine with no aura.

In addition, 977 people had depression, with a quarter of those having migraine also suffered from depression.

After analyzing the relative contribution of genetic factors for both of the disorders, it was revealed that the heritability was estimated at 56 percent for both types of migraine while for migraine with aura, the estimate was 96 percent.

"Understanding the genetic factors that contribute to these disabling disorders could one day lead to better strategies to manage the course of these diseases when they occur together", said Andrew Ahn, MD, PhD, of the University of Florida in Gainesville.