Di Ouyang,1 Yuhe Liu,2 Weiming Xie3 

1Department of Neurology, Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of YuLin, Yulin, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Orthopedics, Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of YuLin, Yulin, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Basic Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Weiming Xie, Department of Basic Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, GuangxiṢ, People’s Republic of China, Email xieweiming2008@126.com

Introduction: The intricate relationship between migraine and insomnia has been a subject of great interest due to its complex mechanisms. Despite extensive research, understanding the causal link between these conditions remains a challenge.
Material and Methods: This study employs a bidirectional Mendelian randomization approach to investigate the causal relationship between migraine and insomnia. Risk loci for both conditions were derived from large-scale Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). The primary method of Mendelian Randomization utilized in this study is the Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) method.
Results: Our findings indicate a bidirectional causal relationship between migraine and insomnia. In the discovery set, migraine had a significant effect on insomnia (OR=1.02, 95% CI=1.02 (1.01– 1.03), PIVW=5.30E-04). However, this effect was not confirmed in the validation set (OR=1.03, 95% CI=1.03 (0.87– 1.21), PIVW=0.77). Insomnia also had a significant effect on migraine (OR=1.02, 95% CI=1.02 (0.01– 1.03), PIVW=2.67E-08), and this effect was validated in the validation set (OR=2.30, 95% CI=2.30 (1.60– 3.30), PIVW=5.78E-06).
Conclusion: This study provides meaningful insights into the bidirectional causality between migraine and insomnia, highlighting a complex interplay between these conditions. While our findings advance the understanding of the relationship between migraine and insomnia, they also open up new avenues for further research. The results underscore the need for considering both conditions in clinical and therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: migraine, insomnia, bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization, wide association studies, inverse variance weighted