Pelvic pain may lead to migraine in women

Migraine and chronic pelvic pain, the two most common chronic conditions in women, may be linked, says a new study.

Seven out of 10 women with chronic pelvic pain also have migraine, three times the normal rate.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health in the US investigated the relationship between migraine and chronic pelvic pain in women, with and without endometriosis - a condition that causes tissue from the lining of the uterus to migrate to other parts of the body.

The women, aged up to 46, had suffered for an average of around 10 years, according to a National Institutes statement.

Results show that 67% women with chronic pelvic pain had migraines and another eight percent had headaches that were possible migraines, three times the rate found in women generally.

Migraine was no more likely in women with endometriosis than those without.

"Migraine might be more closely associated with chronic pelvic pain than with endometriosis itself," says Stephen Silberstein, former president of the American Headache Society, who led the study.

"Further investigations may lead to better understanding and management of migraine, endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain."

Chronic pelvic pain is characterised by discomfort in the region between the hips, below the bellybutton, for six months or more. It accounts for 10% of all gynaecological visits.

While a percentage of cases are linked to infections or growths within the uterus, often the cause is never discovered, the Daily Mail reports.

The condition affects 15 to 24% of women of reproductive age, similar to the prevalence of migraine in women, about 20%, compared with seven percent of men.

A migraine is usually felt as a throbbing pain at the front or on one side of the head. Some sufferers also experience nausea and sensitivity to light.