Migraine sufferers are very affected emotionally

Dr Lenore Launer, National Institute on Ageing, Holland

Dr Richard Lipton, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said: "It seems logical migraine patients would be depressed because of their pain.

"But it goes the other way too - depressed patients are more likely to have migraine.

"We think the two disorders must have a common neurobiology."

A second study, carried out by researchers in Holland, found that migraines can seriously affect peoples lives.

Their study looked at almost 6,000 people, 10% of whom suffered from migraines.

It found that migraine sufferers felt they had a very poor quality of life. Most believed their quality of life was even lower in mental and social aspects than people who suffered from asthma or chronic musculoskeletal pain.

However, they said they believed they were able to do more physically than people with those conditions.

Dr Lenore Launer, from the National Institute on Ageing in Bethesda, Holland, said the unpredictability of migraines were a major problem.

"We knew that people who saw a doctor experienced limitations in their quality of life, but now we see more clearly how everybody with migraine is affected.

"Migraine sufferers are very affected emotionally. It may come from the unpredictability of when attacks occur and the limited ability to control it once it starts."

Migraines affect approximately 10% of the UK population, most of whom are women.