This project investigates the relationship between migraine headache and other diseases based on the data collected from the large group of gravidae in the Collaborative Perinatal Project. The report of the investigation of the influence of smoking on associations between migraine and other diseases such as heart and thrombotic diseases and some respiratory and allergic diseases was published in the Archives of Neurology, in FY 1988. We are currently examining the possible association of maternal migraine in pregnant women with the health status of their children. Subgroups of women characterized by the absence and presence of migraine and other recurrent headaches prior to or during pregnancy, were identified. Children of mothers with a history of migraine appear to have higher incidence of some infectious and allergic diseases than children born to mothers in the non-migraine group. Statistical investigation of the latter results has revealed an association of occurrence of bronchial asthma in children born to mothers with migraine, even after partitioning out the potential influence of maternal asthma and allergies. The risk of occurrence of bronchial asthma in children born to mothers with a history of migraine was estimated to be 1.8 times larger than in the children whose mothers did not have migraine headaches. A manuscript has been accepted for publication in the Archives of Neurology. Further studies examined the frequency and pattern of headache attacks during pregnancies of the women with a history of migraine to test the hypothesis of improvement of headache during pregnancy, and the possible association of pregnancy complications such as uterine bleeding with migraine and headache medication.
