Background More than half of women with migraine report an association between migraine and menstruation. Research has linked both migraine and the perimenstrual period to increased oxidative stress. This cross-sectional study surveyed women with migraine to identify prevalence of menstrually related migraine, to assess disability level, exposure to potential sources of oxidative stress, and presence of correlation between disability and oxidative stress.

Methods The link to an unidentifiable, online survey was made available to women with migraine. The survey included questions to identify the presence of menstrual migraine, to rate associated disability level and identify exposure to potential sources of oxidative stress. The Migraine Disability Assessment Test (MIDAS) was used to rank the disability of the participants.

Results Of 24 women who responded, 91% met the criteria for menstrual migraine, 67% had moderate to severe migraine-associated disability, and 61% had high levels of exposure to potential sources of oxidative stress. Results of a bivariate correlation between disability level and exposure to potential sources of oxidative stress was not significant (P = .06).There were no significant interactions between the MIDAS score and any of the individual lifestyle factors when assessed by Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA. The lowest P value for any individual lifestyle factor was for the positive association between the MIDAS score and red meat consumption (P = 0.09). The P values for the remaining lifestyle factors were as follows: fruits and vegetables, P = 0.76; fish, P = 0.15; sleep, P = 0.15; exercise, P = 0.94; commute, P = 0.35; fish oil, P = 0.29.

Conclusion These data do not support a relationship between migraine-associated disability and oxidative stress. Given the small sample size, further investigation with more participants and other measures of oxidative exposure may be warranted.