Migraine and sleep disorders are common and often burdensome chronic conditions with a high prevalence in the general population, and with considerable socio-economic impact and costs. The existence of a relationship between migraine and sleep disorders has been recognized from centuries by clinicians and epidemiological studies. Nevertheless, the exact nature of this association, the underlying mechanisms and interactions are complex and not completely understood. Recent biochemical and functional imaging studies identified central nervous system structures and neurotransmitters involved in the pathophysiology of migraine and also important for the regulation of normal sleep architecture, suggesting a possible causative role, in the pathogenesis of both disorders, of a dysregulation in these common nervous system pathways. This systematic review summarizes the existing data on migraine and sleep disorders with the aim to evaluate the existence of a causal relationship and to assess the presence of influencing factors. The identification of specific sleep disorders associated with migraine should induce clinicians to systematically assess their presence in migraine patients and to adopt combined treatment strategies.

Recently, several studies showed that migraine is associated with insulin resistance, a condition in which a normal amount of insulin induces a suboptimal physiological response. All the clinical studies that used the oral glucose tolerance test to examine insulin sensitivity found that, after glucose load, there is in migraine patients a significant increase of both plasmatic insulin and glucose concentrations in comparison with controls. On the contrary, no association was found between migraine and type 2 diabetes, while type 1 diabetes seems to have a protective effect in the disease. Obesity and hypertension were shown to be risk factors for both episodic and chronic migraine. Metabolic syndrome has been recently associated mainly with migraine with aura and is now considered a risk factor also for medication overuse headache. Finally, a bidirectional association between migraine and hypothyroidism has been recently demonstrated, suggesting that common genetic or autoimmune mechanisms underlie both diseases. Recent studies showed that insulin receptor signaling and the related physiological responses are altered in migraine and may have a relevant pathogenic role in the disease. Further studies are warranted in order to better elucidate mechanisms underlying insulin resistance in migraine in order to develop new therapeutic strategies for this debilitating disease.

Background Recent studies suggested a potential association between both overt and subclinical hypothyroidism and migraine. Aims of this study were to estimate the comorbidity of migraine in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism and to evaluate associated clinical characteristics. Methods Using a case-control strategy, 151 consecutive subclinical hypothyroidism patients (mean age 48.36 ± 15.86 years) and 150 controls (mean age 50.86 ± 9.19 years) were recruited. In all subjects, migraine characteristics were collected through a direct interview. Clinical and biochemical parameters (thyroid-stimulating hormone, free triiodothyronine, free thyroxine, and anti-thyroid antibodies) were compared between subclinical hypothyroidism patients in comorbidity with migraine and subclinical hypothyroidism patients without migraine. Results The prevalence of lifetime migraine was significantly higher in subclinical hypothyroidism patients in comparison with controls (46% vs. 13%, p < 0.001; OR 5.80; 95% CI = 3.35-10.34). Both migraine without and with aura were significantly higher in subclinical hypothyroidism patients than controls ( p < 0.001 and p = 0.010, respectively). Thyroid hormones and concentrations of antibodies did not differ between subclinical hypothyroidism patients with and without migraine. Interestingly, a comorbidity for autoimmune diseases was observed in subclinical hypothyroidism patients with migraine in respect to those without migraine ( p = 0.005). Conclusions Our data suggest that migraine is more frequent in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism in respect to controls. Further studies are needed in order to confirm this association.

Bipolar disorder is a chronic psychiatric illness characterised by fluctuation in mood state, with a relapsing and remitting course. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous syndrome, with the most frequent phenotype being behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Here, we report the case of an Italian male presenting with late-onset bipolar disorder that developed into bvFTD over time, carrying a mutation in the GRN gene. Interestingly, the patient carried the c.1639 C > T variant in the GRN gene, resulting in a R547C substitution. Our case report further corroborates the notion that, in addition to FTD, progranulin may be involved in the neurobiology of bipolar disorder type 1, and suggests to screen patients with late-onset bipolar disorder for GRN mutations.

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