The odds of getting CH are a tny bit higher if someone in your family has it! But it's not a lot higher then the general public. A couple of people have kids who have them also but the vast majority of people on the board have kids who have no issues with CH. My daughters are 24 and 22 and neither have any inditia of CH.

Guiseppi

No one but Brewcrew (my DH)  has CH in his extended family.  Our son shows no indication of having them, but he'll know what to do if it ever shows its ugly mug in his life.

Lancet Neurol. 2004 May;3(5):279-83.   


Epidemiology and genetics of cluster headache.

Russell MB.

Department of Neurology, Akershus University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. m.b.russell@klinmed.uio.no

Cluster headache, the most severe primary headache, is characterised by unilateral pain, ipsilateral autonomic features, and, in many cases, restlessness. Recent epidemiological studies indicate that the prevalence of cluster headache is about one person per 500. Genetic epidemiological surveys indicate that first-degree relatives are five to 18 times-and second-degree relatives, one to three times-more likely to have cluster headache than the general population. Inheritance is likely to be autosomal dominant with low penetrance in some families, although there may also be autosomal recessive or multifactorial inheritance in others. To date, no molecular genetic clues have been identified for cluster headache. Identification of genes for cluster headache is likely to be difficult because most families reported have few affected members and genetic heterogeneity is likely. Future focus should be on ion channel genes and clock genes. This review summarises the epidemiology and genetics of cluster headache.

Publication Types:
Review

PMID: 15099542 [PubMed]
==================================
Neurology. 2001 May 8;56(9):1233-6. 


Increased familial risk of cluster headache.

Leone M, Russell MB, Rigamonti A, Attanasio A, Grazzi L, D'Amico D, Usai S, Bussone G.

Carlo Besta National Neurological Institute, Milan, Italy.

The authors studied the occurrence of cluster headache in the families of 220 Italian patients with cluster headache. A positive family history was found in 20% (44/220) of the families. Compared with the general population, first-degree relatives had a 39-fold significantly increased risk of cluster headache. Second-degree relatives had an eightfold significantly increased risk. The increased familial risk strongly supports the hypothesis that cluster headache has a genetic component in some families.

PMID: 11342697 [PubMed]

No one else in my immediate family suffers from clusters.
My sister however gets those migraines which keep her lying in the dark for 48, sometimes 72 hours straight.
My late mother suffered from headaches once in a while, but she hated anything to do with drs so was never diagnosed. They were probably migraines in a mild to medium form.

I seem to remember having read a Danish research to the existence of CH in twins some time ago. Unfortunately I don't have any links, but maybe Bob does?

Pascal.

My sister gets them.  She has been in remission for a few years.  She says though, that she occasionally gets "that feeling like she is going to get one."      My mom had migraines as do my children and several of my nieces and one nephew.   

Jeannie

My dad started @ 50, some 24 years ago, which is the same age i started at.  He usually gets in June, for 30 days, however he has skipped a year here and there.

He would always be able to lay down with them and they would go away, daytime hits, maybe just 1-2 day.  He never explained to us what they were, and i don't think he really knew.  He told us he had "an abundance of testosterone"!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thus, I never really researched it until I started this year, in January.  But mine are very different than his.  He now at 74, getting stubborner by the day, does not want to hear about any of the research, etc, he kinda just 'waves me away"..............

I only hope & pray that neither one of my children get these.................

debs

There was no clusters in our family, until the genetics changed around 1990. I and my sister started clustering in our fifties.


                 

My grandmother, father and son had/have migraines, but I pulled the short straw and got CH.

Hugs BD

I'm the only one that I know of who has CH's.