---
title: What causes migraine in female college students who have PMS?
description: Among college students with PMS, those with migraine have worse sleep quality and higher anxiety. Poor sleep and anxiety appear to predict migraine risk.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/prevalence-and-associated-factors-of-migraine-among-female-college-students-with-2025/
---

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- What causes migraine in female college students who have PMS?

Cohort study, 2025

# What causes migraine in female college students who have PMS?

Among college students with PMS, those with migraine have worse sleep quality and higher anxiety. Poor sleep and anxiety appear to predict migraine risk.

 Moderate study design

3,131 female college students with PMS in northeastern Sichuan Province, China

## What they did

Cross-sectional study of 3,131 female college students across nine universities in northeastern Sichuan, China. Researchers screened for PMS using the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool and for migraine using the ID-Migraine questionnaire. They also measured depression, anxiety, stress, sleep quality, and phone addiction using standard questionnaires.

## What they found

18.8% of students with PMS also had migraine. Students with both conditions had significantly worse sleep quality and higher depression, anxiety, and stress compared to those with PMS alone. Logistic regression analysis showed that decreased sleep quality (odds ratio 1.08) and anxiety (odds ratio 1.24) were significant independent risk factors for migraine in this group.

## What it means for you

If you have PMS and migraine, improving sleep quality and managing anxiety might help reduce migraine risk. The study is limited to college students in one region of China, so findings may not apply to all women with PMS. The study is cross-sectional, so we cannot determine whether poor sleep and anxiety cause migraine or result from it.

18.8%

Migraine prevalence in PMS group

1.08

Sleep quality odds ratio for migraine

1.24

Anxiety odds ratio for migraine

## About the study

Original title Prevalence and associated factors of migraine among female college students with premenstrual syndrome Authors He M, Liu L, Wang S et al. Journal Scientific reports Year 2025 Study design Cohort study Participants 3,131 What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-26534-8](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-26534-8)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)[Sleep and insomnia](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-sleep/)[Pain and headache](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-pain/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/)[Migraine](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-migraine/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/)

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