The familial occurrence of migraine headache: a study of heredity.

THE PATIENT with migraine headache commonly reports that some other member of his family has similar headaches. The migraine syndrome has long been considered familial, and some investigators have presented familial occurrences as evidence of its hereditary character. In 1873, Liveing, in his monograph on "megrim," commented on the frequent occurrence of migraine in the relatives of his "megrim" patients and observed that this disorder was often transmitted from parent to child, especially from a parent to those children who in other respects resembled him. 1 Christiansen was of the opinion that migraine is a dominant hereditary factor. This opinion was based on his observation of the very high percentage of his patients with severe migraine who had near relatives with migraine. 2 Ulrich studied 500 cases of migraine headache and believed that these patients all inherited a migraine constitution, and that circumstances such as alcohol, infection, fatigue, worry, and