TY - JOUR

T1 - The chronobiology of migraine

T2 - a systematic review

AU - Poulsen, Amanda Holmen

AU - Younis, Samaira

AU - Thuraiaiyah, Janu

AU - Ashina, Messoud

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Background: The paroxysmal nature of migraine is a hallmark of the disease. Some patients report increased attack frequency at certain seasons or towards the end of the week, while others experience diurnal variations of migraine attack onset. This systematic review investigates the chronobiology of migraine and its relation to the periodicity of attacks in existing literature to further understand the oscillating nature of migraine. Main body: PubMed and Embase were systematically searched and screened for eligible articles with outcome measures relating to a circadian, weekly or seasonal distribution of migraine attacks. We found that the majority of studies reported morning hours (6 am–12 pm) as the peak time of onset for migraine attacks. More studies reported Saturday as weekly peak day of attack. There was no clear seasonal variation of migraine due to methodological differences (primarily related to location), however four out of five studies conducted in Norway reported the same yearly peak time indicating a possible seasonal periodicity phenomenon of migraine. Conclusions: The findings of the current review suggest a possible role of chronobiologic rhythms to the periodicity of migraine attacks. Future studies are, however, still needed to provide more knowledge of the oscillating nature of migraine.

AB - Background: The paroxysmal nature of migraine is a hallmark of the disease. Some patients report increased attack frequency at certain seasons or towards the end of the week, while others experience diurnal variations of migraine attack onset. This systematic review investigates the chronobiology of migraine and its relation to the periodicity of attacks in existing literature to further understand the oscillating nature of migraine. Main body: PubMed and Embase were systematically searched and screened for eligible articles with outcome measures relating to a circadian, weekly or seasonal distribution of migraine attacks. We found that the majority of studies reported morning hours (6 am–12 pm) as the peak time of onset for migraine attacks. More studies reported Saturday as weekly peak day of attack. There was no clear seasonal variation of migraine due to methodological differences (primarily related to location), however four out of five studies conducted in Norway reported the same yearly peak time indicating a possible seasonal periodicity phenomenon of migraine. Conclusions: The findings of the current review suggest a possible role of chronobiologic rhythms to the periodicity of migraine attacks. Future studies are, however, still needed to provide more knowledge of the oscillating nature of migraine.

KW - chronobiology

KW - circadian

KW - Migraine

KW - periodicity

KW - seasonal

KW - weekly

U2 - 10.1186/s10194-021-01276-w

DO - 10.1186/s10194-021-01276-w

M3 - Review

C2 - 34281500

AN - SCOPUS:85111869610

VL - 22

JO - Journal of Headache and Pain

JF - Journal of Headache and Pain

SN - 1129-2369

IS - 1

M1 - 76

ER -