Beschreibung:
<jats:p>Objective.—The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the functional endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) <jats:italic>Glu</jats:italic>298<jats:italic>Asp</jats:italic> polymorphism, which has been demonstrated to decrease the endothelial NOS activity, might be a risk factor for migraine.</jats:p><jats:p>Background.—It has widely demonstrated that nitric oxide (NO) is involved in migraine pathogenesis. Several genetic risk factors have been associated with migraine, but no study has unraveled a possible relationship between migraine and eNOS <jats:italic>Glu</jats:italic>298<jats:italic>Asp</jats:italic>.</jats:p><jats:p>Methods.—One hundred fifty‐six migraine patients and 125 healthy nonheadache volunteers entered the study. Demographic and clinical characteristics were carefully recorded, and a neurological workup was performed.</jats:p><jats:p>Results.—eNOS <jats:italic>AspAsp</jats:italic> homozygous patients had a 3‐fold time risk for migraine with aura (MA) when compared to migraine without aura (MO) patients (OR‐3.02, 95% CI‐1.21 to 7.51), and more than 2‐fold time increased risk when compared to control subjects (OR‐2.21, 95% CI‐1.00 to 5.04).</jats:p><jats:p>In migraine patients, no difference in age at onset, mean attack's intensity, family history for any of the studied comorbidities, or the presence of comorbidities was found in eNOS <jats:italic>AspAsp</jats:italic> homozygous compared to eNOS <jats:italic>GluGlu</jats:italic> or eNOS <jats:italic>GluAs</jats:italic> carriers.</jats:p><jats:p>Conclusions.—Homozygous <jats:italic>Asp</jats:italic>298, a common variant of the eNOS gene, is an independent risk factor for MA in this study population.</jats:p>