Messenger substance CGRP: Women suffer more frequently from migraines during menstruation

Messenger substance CGRP

This is why so many women suffer from migraines during menstruation

Women suffer significantly more often from migraines than men. Another reason: In migraine patients, the level of the inflammatory messenger CGRP is increased during the period.

publishedFeb 26, 2023 at 8:20 p.m

Because of a certain messenger substance, women often suffer from migraines during their menstrual period.

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• Women suffer significantly more often from migraines than men.

• Many women complain of severe headaches, especially during menstruation.

• According to the Charité University Hospital, a special messenger substance is responsible for this.

six to eight percent of men and more than twice as many women suffer from migraines. Berlin scientists have now identified the reason for the particularly frequent pain attacks in women around the menstrual period: the increased endogenous production of the inflammatory messenger CGRP, which serves as the starting point for the most modern migraine medication.

«Women are up to three times more likely to suffer from migraines as men. They experience particularly numerous and violent attacks around the menstrual period, but also at the onset of menopause. On the other hand, the symptoms improve in many cases during pregnancy, and migraine attacks also become less frequent after the menopause. It has been known for a long time that hormone fluctuations are associated with migraines, »says the letter from the Berlin University Hospital Charité. But what the exact cause is has so far remained unclear.

Hormone fluctuations release messenger substances

Berlin neurologists have published their current research work on the open question in the journal “Neurology”. “We have evidence from the animal model that fluctuations in female hormones – estrogen in particular – lead to an increased release of the inflammatory messenger CGRP in the brain,” explained study leader Bianca Raffaelli from the Headache Center of the Clinic for Neurology with Experimental Neurology at the Charité Campus Mitte.

With a total of 180 women as subjects, the research group examined whether the connection between female hormones and the release of CGRP also exists in humans. To do this, the scientists determined the CGRP level in migraine patients twice during the cycle, namely during menstrual bleeding and at the time of ovulation.

A Comparison with women without migraines proved: During menstruation, the concentration of CGRP in migraine sufferers is significantly higher than in healthy subjects. “So when estrogen levels drop to start the period, migraine sufferers release more CGRP,” said Bianca Raffaelli. “That could explain why the women affected experience more migraine attacks shortly before and during menstruation.”

Fewer migraines thanks to the pill

These hormone-related fluctuations did not appear in women who took the pill. The Berlin neurologist: “In fact, taking the pill and the end of the menopause can provide relief for some migraine sufferers. However, as can be seen from our study, there are also women who get migraines even without hormone fluctuations. We suspect that other processes in the body play a role in causing an attack. Because CGRP isn’t the only inflammatory peptide that can trigger migraines.”

The results of the study could have implications for the prophylaxis and acute treatment of migraine in women. For several years there have been newly approved monoclonal antibodies against the CGRP mechanism in the development of migraine. Drugs that can be taken orally that target CGRP or the peptide receptor directly are also currently in development.

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(Heute.at/bho)View Comments