Maternal migraine and offspring ADHD: triangulating the evidence.

Yaxin Luo, Christina Dardani, Robyn E Wootton, Apostolos Gkatzionis, Evie Stergiakouli

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Article in BMC medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Yaxin LuoPopulation Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, UK. yaxin.luo@bristol.ac.uk.

Christina DardaniPopulation Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, UK.

Robyn E WoottonMedical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.

Apostolos GkatzionisPopulation Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, UK.

Evie StergiakouliPopulation Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, UK.

Funding

Wellcome Trust 217065/Z/19/Z

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMigraine and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) co-occur more frequently than would be expected by chance. However, little is known about whether there are causal links between maternal migraine during pregnancy and offspring ADHD.

methodsUsing data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, we performed observational analyses to examine associations between first-trimester maternal migraine and offspring ADHD traits at age 7, with partners' migraine as a negative control. We complemented this with polygenic risk score (PRS) regression to assess the association of maternal genetic liability to migraine and offspring ADHD. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) was employed to estimate potential causal effects.

resultsMaternal migraine during the first trimester of pregnancy was associated with elevated offspring ADHD traits (OR = 1.59 [1.22, 2.06]) while evidence was weak for partner's migraine (OR = 1.31 [0.95, 1.82]). Maternal PRS for migraine was associated with increased offspring ADHD traits at age 7 (OR = 1.21 [1.11, 1.32]). MR analyses provided limited evidence of a causal effect of migraine genetic liability on ADHD (OR

conclusionsOur findings do not support a direct intrauterine causal effect of maternal migraine on offspring ADHD traits. Instead, the observed associations might reflect shared genetic overlap between migraine and ADHD. Future studies should characterize the shared genetic architecture underlying migraine-ADHD links, distinguishing pleiotropic effects from mediated pathways.

Indexed as

Attention Deficit Disorder with HyperactivityMigraine DisordersPregnancy ComplicationsPrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsChildFemaleGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenetic Risk ScoreHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMendelian Randomization AnalysisPregnancyAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorderGenetic liabilityMendelian randomizationMigrainePrenatal risk factors

Identifiers

PMID41689052

DOI10.1186/s12916-026-04692-4

PMCPMC13011382

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