Migraine Often Missed in Women With Endometriosis

A review of 35 studies finds migraine is far more common in women with endometriosis than records suggest.

Updated on Nov. 12, 2026 in Women’s Health

Migraine Often Missed in Women With Endometriosis

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Analysis presented at the 151st Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association found women with endometriosis have migraine at higher rates than women without the condition. Short-term health records miss up to 90% of women who have both conditions.

Why it matters

Migraine and endometriosis are treated by different specialists and recorded separately, which makes the overlap easy to miss in medical records. Researchers suggest the shared pain pathways could point toward treatments that address both conditions.

The review pooled 35 studies covering more than 13 million women over 50 years, with 207,675 women having endometriosis. Migraine rates ranged from 54% to 78% in clinic-based interviews, 18% to 43% in insurance claims over longer periods, and under 5% in one year of billing records, leaving open how much of the gap reflects missed diagnoses.

The players

American Neurological Association

The American Neurological Association is a professional organization of neurologists and neuroscientists that holds an annual meeting to share research advances.

Mayo Clinic Arizona

Mayo Clinic Arizona is a Phoenix-based campus of the Mayo Clinic, a major nonprofit academic medical center in the United States.

The details

Researchers reviewed studies comparing migraine rates among women with and without endometriosis, and compared how different data sources identified the overlap. Half to three-quarters of women with endometriosis also have migraine, and researchers point to a possible shared pain pathway involving calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and inflammation around nerves and blood vessels.

The reviewed studies span a 50-year period.
The analysis was presented in 2026 at the 151st Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association in San Diego.

Roadmap

The finding extends the long-documented diagnostic delay in endometriosis, a condition women often wait years to have confirmed, by showing that a frequently co-occurring condition is also systematically missed. It places women's pain conditions within a wider pattern in which care split across specialists leaves overlapping diagnoses unrecorded.

Women with endometriosis who experience headaches may benefit from telling their clinicians about both conditions so the overlap can be assessed. The findings do not yet change standard treatment, and patients should discuss options with their care team.

The takeaway

Women with endometriosis who have migraine are often undiagnosed in standard records, so reporting both symptoms to a clinician can help ensure the overlap is recognized and treated.