Stress caused by financial hardship can increase the risk of developing migraine in people with a particular gene variant, a study has showed. Migraine is a serious and debilitating neurological disease affecting one billion people worldwide.
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What findings showed?
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- The findings showed that the genetics of circadian rhythms has an effect on migraine.
- And that people with the CLOCK gene variant have more migraines under financial stress.
- The CLOCK gene has an important role in regulating many rhythmic patterns of the body.
- In addition,including body temperature or level of cortisol — the primary stress hormone.
- Though the researchers did not find a significant direct connection between the gene and migraine when they factored in financial stress,
- They found that the investigated gene variants increased the odds of having migraine type headaches in those subjects who suffered from financial hardship by around 20 per cent.
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According to experts:
- The study does not show what causes migraine but it does show that both stress and genetics have an effect.
- We were able to show that stress represented by financial hardship led to an increase in migraine in those who have a particular gene variant.
- For the study, the team of researchers checked 999 patients from Budapest and 1,350 from Manchester.
- For two variants (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) of the CLOCK gene, and how these are associated with migraine.
- The gene variants was found in nearly one-third of the population, so they are common variants with small effect size, the researchers said.
- Our results shed light on one specific mechanism that may contribute to migraine.
- What it does mean is that for many people, the stress caused by financial worries can physically affect you,”Expert said.
- “What we need to do now is to see if other circadian gene variants in association with different stress factors cause the same effect.”