Recent Evidence Regarding the Association Between Migraine and Suicidal Behaviors: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: The review presents a systematic analysis of literature investigating the association between migraine and suicidal behaviors. Introduction: Migraine is a common neurological disorder. The prevalence of migraines increases with age from adolescence to adulthood in both sexes, and results in a substantial loss of productivity due to missing days of school or work and need for bed rest. Literature prior to 2015 suggests that migraine is a predictor of suicide. Given the worldwide public health interest in suicide prevention, we examined the literature collected from diverse, predominantly non-European, populations post-2015. Methods: The databases used in this systematic review included: Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE (Ovid), Science Direct (Elsevier), Cochrane, and PubMed for all available years of publication from January 2015 onwards. The review included participants aged 16 and over who had been diagnosed with migraines with the following outcome variables: any suicidality, both fatal and non-fatal; suicidal ideation; and suicidal behavior. Results: The database searches yielded a total of 542 citations. Following title and abstract screening, 460 articles were excluded and a total of 21 citations were evaluated. After full-text review and excluding a further 11 non-eligible studies, a total of 10 studies were eligible for inclusion in the systematic review. Conclusions: Current existing research highlights the important association between the increased risk of suicidal behaviors in the clinical and general population among chronic migraineurs with/without aura worldwide. Future studies are needed to facilitate the development of clinical guidelines for risk assessment, targeted interventions, and evidence-based treatment of migraine to reduce the risk of suicide among this vulnerable population.

Migraine: A Review on Its History, Global Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Comorbidities

“…Migraine has also been shown to lead to an increased risk of suicidal behaviors, in both the clinical and general population, and among chronic migraineurs with and without aura ( 185 , 186 ). The research with low bias ratings overwhelmingly supports a strong relationship between migraine and suicidal behaviors ( 34 , 185 ).…”

“…Migraine has also been shown to lead to an increased risk of suicidal behaviors, in both the clinical and general population, and among chronic migraineurs with and without aura ( 185 , 186 ). The research with low bias ratings overwhelmingly supports a strong relationship between migraine and suicidal behaviors ( 34 , 185 ). The role of depression in this relationship is unquestionable, with a clear bidirectional relationship between depression or anxiety disorders and migraines, which can increase the risk of suicide ( 34 , 88 ).…”

Analysing the Impacts of Financial Support for Regional Suicide Prevention Programmes on Suicide Mortality Caused by Major Suicide Motives in Japan Using Statistical Government Data

“…In other words, an effective suicide prevention programme is organised to complement the regional welfare and social safety nets that lead to an improvement in the vulnerability of regional social protection against suicidal behaviour/ideation via effective leading/exposure procedures, such as the regional intervention model programme. It is well known that patients with chronic physical disease, such as cancer [ 48 ], and chronic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis [ 49 ], asthma [ 50 ], migraine [ 51 ] and end-stage kidney disease treated with dialysis [ 52 ], are at a high risk of suicide and comorbidities with affective disturbance. Therefore, suicide mortality caused by physical illness-related motives could probably be prevented by the external cooperation of regional primary care physicians and psychiatry specialists, via suicide prevention programmes, due to the guidance to help them access appropriate services.…”

A unique medium chain triglyceride-containing micronutrient complex: Effects on migraine symptoms compared to quality of lif

“…Severity related to QOL, and the development of other actions can be a singular metric or a combination. Some research has reported that migraine with aura is a more accurate predictor of increased risk of self-harm or suicide, while other studies have determined that the presence of aura is not required [24,25]. One explanation for this dichotomy may be that migraine symptoms are multi-factorial and diverse, so one metric alone is unlikely to be a significant predictor.…”