Caesarean section and the association with migraine: a retrospective register-linked HUNT population cohort study

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the association between caesarean section and migraine in a population-based register-linked cohort study.

Setting: Data from the population-based Nord-Trøndelag Health Studies (HUNT2 and HUNT3) were linked to information from the Norwegian Medical Birth Registry.

Participants: 65 343 participants responded to the headache questions in any of the two HUNT studies. Only those answering the headache questions in HUNT2 or 3 and had information about mode of delivery in the Norwegian Medical Birth Registry (born after 1967) were included. Our final sample consisted of 6592 women and 4602 men, aged 19-41 years.

Outcomes: ORs for migraine given caesarean section. Analyses were performed in multivariate logistic regression models.

Results: After adjusting for sex, age and fetal growth restriction, delivery by caesarean section was not associated with migraine later in life (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.64 to 1.15). Delivery by caesarean section was associated with a reduced OR of non-migrainous headache (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.99).

Conclusion: No association was found between caesarean section and migraine in this population-based register-linked study.

Keywords: epidemiology; general medicine (see internal medicine); migraine.