Migraines are the second leading cause of disability in adults worldwide affecting approximately one billion individuals each year. The effectiveness of conventional migraine therapies, however, varies among patients, and many seek out alternative treatments such as blood donation. Donation decreases total blood volume by 7 to 11%, decreases hematocrit and metabolite levels, and lowers blood pressure. Very few studies have investigated the association between blood donation and migraine relief, so researchers in Denmark followed a cohort of individuals born in or after 1987 with a complete blood donation history (n=1,076,383) included in national health databases (such as SCANDAT-DK). By the end of 2019, 5.2% of the cohort became blood donors. Using triptan prescriptions as a surrogate for migraines, triptan use was the same in first-time male blood donors as compared to matched controls (odds ratio of 0.95; 95% C.I., 0.86 to 1.04) and slightly reduced for first-time female donors (odds ratio of 0.88; 95% C.I., 0.83 to 0.93) compared to matched controls. Triptan use was also associated with longer intervals between donation and a greater probability of donors not returning in both males and females. Analysis from a second, separate cohort (n=100,148) from the Danish Blood Donor Study based on self-reported migraines found similar results. Results suggest that blood donation is not associated with reduced frequency of migraines or need for migraine treatment, and migraines were associated with less frequent blood donation.
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