Exploring the Link Between Prolactin and Migraine: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Migraine headaches are a common type of headache that often requires frequent medical attention. In the absence of specific biomarkers, diagnosis of migraine is done by clinical criteria only. Multiple hormones, including prolactin, may have some role in the pathogenesis of migraine. Prolactin, as a laboratory test, can aid in the diagnosis of migraine. Aim: To compare serum prolactin levels in migraine patients and other primary headaches, and also to explore its association with migraine clinical profile. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research and Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital (IPGME&R and SSKM) Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal,India from February 2015 to June 2016. The present study included 164 adult patients: 82 subjects with migraine and 82 subjects with non migraine, other primary headaches (control). Serum prolactin was measured by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), and hyperprolactinemia was defined as >25 ng/mL. An Unpaired two-sample Student’s t-test did statistical analysis. The level of significance was considered at p-value <0.05. Results: In the present study, the mean age among migraine patients was 30.01±7.69 yrs, and among other primary headache patients control was 39.94±7.81yrs. Among the total 164 patients, 101 (61.59%) patients were females and 63 (38.41%) patients were males; among the total migraine patients, 58/82 (70.73%) were females and 24/82 (29.27%) were males. Mean serum prolactin was significantly higher in migraine patients (25.46±13.28 ng/mL) than in other primary headaches controls (10.39±5.53 ng/mL) (p-value <0.0001). Hyperprolactinemia was observed in 39.02% of migraine patients versus 3.66% of other primary headache patients. Conclusion: Significantly higher serum prolactin level in migraine patients suggests a potential role in pathophysiology and possible use as a biomarker. Further research is needed on the therapeutic potential of prolactin inhibitory agents.