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 .
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