- Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Disorders in Patients with Migraine: An Insurance Claims Database Study in Japan
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Eiichiro Nagata, Miki Hasebe, Daishi Yui, Alex Wang, Robert Urman, Katarzyna Jabłońska, Renata Majewska, Mamoru Shibata
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Received August 21, 2026 Accepted October 13, 2026 Published online October 27, 2026
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.62087/hpr.2026.0038
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 Abstract
- Purpose: Migraine is often associated with gastrointestinal (GI) comorbidities. This study estimated the 1-year prevalence of five GI disorders in patients with and without migraine.
Methods
This cross-sectional study used data from a Japanese health insurance claims database for two periods: April 1, 2019–March 31, 2020, and April 1, 2020–March 31, 2021. Individuals with a migraine diagnosis or a triptan prescription constituted the migraine group, and those with at least two non-migraine claims constituted the non-migraine group. The 1-year prevalence was assessed for any constipation, refractory constipation, constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C), diarrhea, and diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D).
Results
The migraine and non-migraine groups included 75,720 and 993,198 patients, respectively, in Period 1 and 82,945 and 978,071 patients, respectively, in Period 2. The 1-year prevalence of any constipation in the migraine and non-migraine groups was 12.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 11.9%–12.4%) and 5.9% (95% CI: 5.9%–6.0%), respectively. The corresponding prevalence estimates were 2.0% (95% CI: 1.9%–2.1%) and 0.8% (95% CI: 0.8%–0.8%) for refractory constipation; 1.5% (95% CI: 1.4%–1.6%) and 0.5% (95% CI: 0.5%–0.5%) for IBS-C; 4.5% (95% CI: 4.3%–4.6%) and 2.1% (95% CI: 2.1%–2.2%) for diarrhea; and 2.1% (95% CI: 2.0%–2.2%) and 0.6% (95% CI: 0.6%–0.6%) for IBS-D. Among patients with migraine, any constipation was present in 21.4% (95% CI: 21.0%–21.8%) of those prescribed prophylactic medication and 3.2% (95% CI: 3.0%–3.3%) of those not prescribed such medication.
Conclusion
Physicians should recognize how frequently GI disorders occur in patients with migraine, discuss these conditions with patients, and advise them on appropriate management.
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