Genetic analysis of migraine and comorbid psychiatric disorders using twin families

Funding Activity

Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the .

Funded Activity Summary

Typical migraine, is a frequent, debilitating and painful disorder that normally affects people during their most productive years (up to 25% of females and 7.5% of males in Western populations). Additionally, several studies have demonstrated a cross-sectional relation between psychiatric disorders (namely anxiety and depression) and migraine in community samples. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently identified migraine and major depression among the world's top 20 leading causes of disability, with an impact that extends far past the suffering individual, to the family and community. In both sexes of all ages, depression and migraine are the 1st and 19th leading causes of disability affected life years. Although both migraine and depression are highly prevalent in our society, their aetiologies remain relatively obscure and there are no laboratory based diagnostic tests that identify those who suffer from the disorders. Because so little is known about them, a positional cloning approach is the only feasible way to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying these disorders. This project will collect a sample with sufficient power to perform a genome wide linkage screen to i) identify novel susceptibility genes, and ii) confirm previously reported susceptibility genes for migraine and co-occurring psychiatric disorders. The susceptibility genes identified (and confirmed) in this sample will provide clues to the further elucidation of the complex molecular pathways of migraine (and co-occurring psychiatric disorders) and, finally, will help in the development of diagnostic tests and rational treatment strategies.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2003

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $554,450.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Neurogenetics

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

anxiety, depression | depression | determining genetic susceptibility to disease | gene mapping | genetic epidemiology | migraine | selection of population for genetic linkage analysis | susceptibility genes