SAN ANTONIO – More than 33% of patients with allergic rhinitis experience migraine headaches, compared with 3.5% of people without allergic rhinitis, according to a study by investigators in New York City.
The findings highlight a previously unrecognized potential target for migraine relief–that of histamine release in the nasal passage, said Nausika Prifti of Long Island College Hospital and one of the investigators in the study.
Oral antihistamine therapy fails to address this specific mechanism for relief of migraine pain, but nasal corticosteroids hold promise in this regard by addressing vasodilation and inflammation, she told this newspaper.
“Since there is a release of histamine in close proximity to the central nervous system, and histamine is a known releaser of nitric oxide, which is a key mediator to migraine headaches, there is more of a chance that nasal steroids might work on migraines by reducing the effects of histamines,” she said.
In a poster that she presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, Ms. Prifti and her colleagues outlined their survey of 133 patients who received care at an allergic rhinitis (AR) clinic.
A total of 76 patients met the criteria for AR and 57 did not. In the AR group, 26 patients (34%) had headaches meeting the criteria for migraines, whereas 2 patients (3.5%) in the non-AR group met these criteria.
Analysis of the data showed the risk of migraine headache was 14 times higher among patients with AR than among patients who did not have AR.
“We were surprised,” she said. “The doctors working with AR patients knew there was a trend toward migraine headaches, but they didn't expect it to be so high.”
Many patients thought they had sinus headaches and were not aware that they suffered migraines, she added.