Gallbladder Stone Disease Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Migraines

Background: Several pathophysiological mechanisms are shared in both gallbladder stone disease (GSD) and migraines. We assessed the migraine risk for patients diagnosed with GSD. Methods: We identified 20,427 patients who were diagnosed with GSD between 2000 and 2011 from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) as the study cohort. We randomly selected 81,706 controls from the non-GSD population with frequency matching by age and index year for the control cohort. All patient cases were followed until the end of 2011 to measure the incidence of migraines. Results: The cumulative incidence of migraines was greater in patients with GSD than in those without GSD (log-rank test: p < 0.001). The risk of migraine (3.89 vs. 2.30 per 10,000 person-years, adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.41⁻1.73) was greater for the GSD cohort than that for the non-GSD cohort. The risk of migraine increased with the time of follow-up after a diagnosis of GSD. The risk of migraine contributed by GSD was greater for all age groups. The risk of migraine for GSD patients with depression (aHR = 2.89, 95% CI = 2.21⁻3.77), anxiety (aHR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.58⁻2.70), and coronary artery disease (CAD) (aHR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.69⁻2.48) tended to be greater than that for GSD patients without depression (aHR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.39⁻1.72), anxiety (aHR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.46⁻1.81), and CAD (aHR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.47⁻1.85), respectively. Compared with the patients without GSD, the risk of developing migraines was greater in those GSD patients either with (aHR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.19⁻1.63) or without (aHR = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.48⁻1.88) cholecystectomy. Compared with the GSD patients that have not had a cholecystectomy, the risk of developing migraines was lower in the GSD patients that had a cholecystectomy (aHR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.69⁻0.99). Conclusions: GSD is associated with an increased risk of migraines in the Taiwanese population, but the risk diminishes after a cholecystectomy. Furthermore, in the development of migraines, GSD is synergic with some migraine-associated comorbidities, such as CAD, depression, and anxiety. Further study is necessary to clarify whether GSD is a causal risk factor for migraine.