Abstract:Abstract Objective: To identify the trajectories of depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults in China and to explore their association with the risk of migraine-like symptoms, thereby providing guidance for the development of local guidelines and the management of migraine. Methods: This study utilised data from the four waves (2011–2018) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A cohort trajectory model was employed to identify the trajectories of depressive symptoms among study participants during the follow-up period. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyse the association between depressive symptom trajectories and migraine-like symptoms, with sensitivity analyses conducted using discrete-time cloglog models. Results: A total of 13,012 middle-aged and older adults were included. Depression symptom trajectories were categorised into the severe stable group (767 participants, 5.9%), the severe remission group (1,294 participants, 9.9%), the moderate to severe group (1,346 participants, 10.3%), the moderately stable group (5,240 participants, 40.3%) and the mild stable group (4,365 participants, 33.6%). After adjusting for all included covariates such as age and gender, the results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, compared with the mild stable group, the moderately stable group (OR = 1.965, 95% CI: 1.579–2.447), the moderate to severe group (OR = 3.242, 95% CI: 2.506–4.196), the severe remission Group (OR = 2.931, 95% CI: 2.246–3.382) and the severe stable group (OR = 3.992, 95% CI: 2.972–5.362) had a significantly increased risk of migraine-like symptoms onset. The results of the sensitivity analysis were consistent with those of the logistic regression. Conclusion: Over time, the risk of migraine-like symptoms increases among middle-aged and older adults following trajectories of moderately stable group, moderate to severe group, severe Remission group and severe stable group in depressive symptoms.