Migraine is a common disorder which affects quality of life. There has been an increasing interest for discovering the association of gastrointestinal disorders with migraine during past years. This study aims to evaluate the association of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) contamination, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), gastric ulcer (GU) and duodenal ulcer (DU) with migraine in patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy due to refractory dyspepsia.

In this observational cross-sectional study, 341 dyspeptic patients who underwent upper GI endoscopy in Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Qom, Iran, included during 2016-2018. A checklist was used for collecting demographics, symptoms and results from endoscopy and H.pylori testing. Diagnosis of migraine made according to International Headache Society (HIS) criteria in patients who had headache. Data were analyzed using Chi square and independent samples T tests in SPSS 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) with a P-value < 0.05 significance level.

Among 341 patients 141 (% 41.3) were male and 200 (% 58.7) were female. 149 patients (% 43.7) were diagnosed with migraine from which 48 (% 32.2) were male and 101 (% 67.8) were female. The observed difference in migraine prevalence among male and female was significant (0.003). 198 (% 58.06) patients were H.pylori contaminated among these 138 (%69.7) suffered from migraine. Among 143 H.pylori negative patients, there were 11 (%7.7) migraineurs. The difference in the prevalence of migraine among H.pylori positive and negative patients was significant. H.pylori and GERD were associated with migraine with a P-value<0.001. Patients with a duodenal ulcer were more commonly suffering from migraine (P-value=0.001). The association in patients with gastric ulcer was not significant (P-value=0.863).

Migraine is associated with GERD, H.pylori infection and duodenal ulcer and treatment of the underlying GI disorder may control headaches.