OBJECTIVE

To assess the effect of food allergies on the course of migraine.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Seventy patients with migraine, aged 21—56 years old, were examined using headache diary, MIDAS and VAS, studies of specific antibodies of the IgG4 class (delayed type food allergy) by immuno-enzyme analysis (ELISA), microbiological examination of a smear from the mucous membrane of the posterior wall of the oropharynx with mass spectrometry of microbial markers (MSMM) with the identification of 57 microorganisms.

RESULTS

We found an increase in specific IgG4 for a number of food allergens in most patients with migraine, of which 48.5% had a pronounced increase in IgG4 (>150 kEd/l) for at least one allergen (cow’s milk — 13% patients, wheat flour — 5%, egg white — 47% or yolk — 26%, quail egg — 15%, sweet pepper — 6%), in 29% of people to several food allergens at once (all of them had chicken egg protein as one of the allergens). There was the association of IgG4 titers to wheat allergen with the severity of headache according to VAS (r—S=0.7; p=0.0046) in patients with the most severe, chronic migraine (17 people) and with an imbalance of the oropharyngeal microbiota, namely, concentration of pathological viruses Herpes spp. (r_s=0.29; p=0.02), Epstein—Barr (r_s=0.46; p=0.0002) and microscopic fungi (r_s=0.39; p=0.0016), detected in these patients.

CONCLUSION

We show for the first time the relationship between delayed-type food allergy and redistribution in the microbiome of the oropharynx of patients with migraine and once again confirm the role of delayed-type food allergy as a clinically significant factor influencing the course of migraine (its intensity and chronicity).