The second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D): a risk factor of migraine and Tension-type headache

The Journal of Headache and Pain

Research Article

Dan Wang¹  Mianwang He¹  Ruozhuo Liu¹  Wei Xie¹  Shengyuan Yu¹  Jingdan Xie¹  Zhao Dong¹ 

[1] Department of Neurology, International Headache Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Fuxing Road 28, Haidian District, 100853, Beijing, China;

关键词: Migraine;    Tension-type headache;    Digit ratio;    2D:4D;    Sex steroids;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s10194-015-0494-8

 received in 2014-11-16, accepted in 2015-01-17,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMigraine and Tension-type headache (TTH) are common and disabling primary headache disorders. They are more prevalent in females. The second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) is sexually dimorphic in humans and is considered to be a marker for the balance of prenatal testosterone and estrogen exposure. Therefore, we investigated the hypothesis that prenatal sex steroids constitute an independent risk factor for adult headaches later in life.MethodsA total of 891 individuals (303 males, 588 females) of 18–68 years in age (a mean of 37.0 ± 10.1 years), including 279 migraine, 300 TTH, and 312 healthy subjects were enrolled. The 2D:4D ratio was measured by a single investigator using a digital Vernier caliper.ResultsThe females in the migraine group had lower 2D:4D ratios than those in the control group (left hand: 0.947 ± 0.034 vs. 0.955 ± 0.038, p = 0.048; right hand: 0.952 ± 0.035 vs. 0.965 ± 0.037, p = 0.001). There was a similar relationship between the TTH group and the control group (left hand: 0.946 ± 0.034 vs. 0.955 ± 0.038, p = 0.034; right hand: 0.954 ± 0.035 vs. 0.965 ± 0.037, p = 0.005), although this was not observed in males. Males showed lower 2D:4D ratios than females for the right hand in the control group (0.954 ± 0.039 vs. 0.965 ± 0.037, p = 0.015). No significant difference was found in the left hand.ConclusionsThese results suggested that the 2D:4D ratio is a risk factor of migraine and TTH and that the balance of prenatal estrogen and testosterone in utero may impact adult primary headache disorders.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Xie et al.; licensee Springer. 2015. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.