DID YOU
KNOW?
SHOW ME THE MONEY
More than 30 million people suffer from migraines— that’ s more people than are afflicted with diabetes and asthma combined. But funding for migraine research is still surprisingly low.
Migraine specialists who attended a June American Headache Society meeting in Washington, D. C., say more government funding for migraine research offers the best chance of finally winning the battle against the disease. According to David W. Dodick, MD, president of the American Headache Society, the National Institutes of Health allocates less than $ 13 million a year to migraine research. He estimates that about $ 260 million is needed, given the magnitude of the disease.
Nearly 35 percent of migraine specialists surveyed at the conference believe a greater investment of money in the field will lead to new therapies and treatments. Doctors attending the conference were asked to rank four areas of research need:
AREAS OF GREATEST MIGRAINE RESEARCH NEED:
40 28 25 06
PERCENT Increase in public funds
PERCENT Understanding the role of early intervention
PERCENT Understanding the role of the thalamus
In a 2004 study, the total health care costs of a family with one migraine sufferer were 70 percent higher than those of a non-migraine family. Most of that difference came from outpatient and pharmacy costs.
PERCENT Greater understanding of migraine genetics
Source: World Health Alliance
IN THE GENES
WOMEN ARE NEARLY THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY than men to suffer headache disorders, and new research may point to a genetic reason why. Researchers at Brigham and Women’ s Hospital( BWH) in Boston have identified three genes in which a genetic variation is tied to increased risk for migraine headache— and one of these genes is exclusively linked to women.
According to findings published in the journal Nature Genetics, inheritance of any of these genetic variants raises the risk of migraine by 10 to 15 percent. Two of the genes, PRDM16 and TRPM8, were specific to migraines( TRPM8 is found exclusively in women). The third gene, LRP1, is involved in sensing the external world and in chemical pathways inside the brain.
“ While migraine remains incompletely understood and its underlying causes difficult to pin down, identifying these three genetic variants helps shed light on the biological roots for this common and debilitating condition,” says lead author Daniel Chasman, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine at BWH and Harvard Medical School.
www. headwisemag. org | National Headache Foundation 17