• Knut Hagen, Lars Jacob Stovner, and John-Anker Zwart.
• Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Faculty of medicine and health sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7489, Trondheim, Norway. knut.hagen@ntnu.no.
• J Headache Pain. 2020 Jun 5; 21 (1): 67.

BackgroundSeveral previous studies have reported a cross-sectional association between elevated high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and migraine. The aim of this population-based follow-up study was to investigate the influence of hs-CRP at baseline on the risk of developing migraine 11 years later.MethodsData from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study performed in 2006-2008 (baseline) and 2017-2019 were used. A total of 19,574 participants without migraine at baseline were divided into three groups based on hs-CRP levels (< 3 mg/L, 3-9.99 mg/L and 10.00-20 mg/L). Poisson regression was used to evaluate the associations between hs-CRP levels and risk ratios (RRs) of migraine, and precision of the estimates was assessed by 95% confidence interval (CIs).ResultsIn the multi-adjusted model, increased risk of migraine (RR 1.46, 95% CI 1.05-2.04) was found in the highest hs-CRP levels group compared to the lowest group. In the group with the highest hs-CRP levels, a nearly three times higher risk of chronic migraine (RR 2.81, 95% CI 1.12-7.06) was found, whereas no evident relationship was found between high hs-CRP level and risk of developing episodic migraine.ConclusionsThe main finding in this 11-year follow-up was that hs-CRP levels between 10.00-20.00 mg/L at baseline was associated with increased risk of chronic migraine.

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