Related Conditions

Related conditions are also known as comorbid conditions.  Sounds scary!  But what does it really mean?

The term comorbidity can be used in two ways.  The older and most proper definition is this:  a medical condition existing simultaneously with but independently from another condition, and in a higher rate than expected by coincidence.  Comorbidity can also be used to mean a situation in which one condition is caused by or closely related to another condition.  This is a newer and non-standard definition, and is sometimes used to describe situations in which we are learning more about a disease state such as migraine.

There are a number of conditions which are comorbid with migraine.  Some of them associate as true comorbidities in the first and more classic sense.  Others we are finding group together as “comorbidity clusters”, and this new information is leading us to further avenues of research.  Some comorbid conditions may exist because of shared genetic factors that increase the risk of both the comorbid condition and migraine.