Migraine increases risks of diseases such as heart attack and stroke

Higher heart attack and stroke risk due to migraine

Almost one in ten Germans suffers from migraine. Around one billion people worldwide are said to be affected. The condition is accompanied by symptoms such as severe headache and nausea. Researchers have now found that migraine is also associated with an increased risk for conditions such as heart attack and stroke.

About one in ten Germans suffers from migraine

According to health experts, almost every tenth German suffers from migraine. Around one billion people worldwide are said to be affected. Affected persons can be put out of action by the illness. Typical are throbbing, hammering and one-sided headache. Often, other complaints such as nausea and vomiting, dizziness and loss of appetite are added. In addition, many sufferers are noisy and sensitive to light. In addition to this already heavy burden comes that people with migraine also have an increased risk of cardiovascular problems such as heart attack and stroke. Scientists at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and Stanford University in the USA found that out.

One study has shown that migraine is associated with an increased risk of diseases such as heart attack and stroke. (Image: Antonioguillem / fotolia.com)

Link between migraine and strokes and heart attacks

Previous studies have suggested a connection between migraine and strokes and heart attacks, especially in women. Thus, women with migraine show a high risk of heart attacks and strokes.

For the current study, published in the British Medical Journal, researchers collected patient data from the Danish National Patient Registry over a 19-year period - from 1995 to 2013.

The experts compared the results of more than 51,000 people diagnosed with migraine with over 510,000 people who were free of migraine.

For each person with migraine, ten people of the same age and sex, who did not suffer from migraine, were examined.

The median age for the diagnosis of migraine was 35 years and 71 percent of the study participants were women.

How did the migraine affect the patients??

Over the 19-year study period, the researchers found that migraine was positively associated with the onset of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, and irregular heart rate.

For example, 25 patients with migraines per 1,000 patients had a heart attack. In patients without migraine, there were only 17 patients.

Forty-five patients from 1,000 participants with migraine suffered from a so-called ischemic stroke during the study (blood clots in the brain). For non-migraine patients, there were only 25 patients compared.

Women are affected more often than men

The established relationships also existed after taking into account the so-called body mass index (BMI) and smoking.

No meaningful association was found with peripheral arterial disease or heart failure, the researchers explain.

Associations, especially in strokes, were more severe in the first year of diagnosis in patients with so-called migraineuras (warning signs of migraine) compared with patients without such aura. In addition, they were more common in women than in men.

Unknown factors could influence the results

The study is an observational study. For this reason, no clear conclusions about cause and effect can be made.

The study authors can not rule out the possibility that other previously unknown factors, such as physical activity, could have influenced the results.

However, the main strengths of the study were a large sample of samples and the long-term follow-up.

Patients with migraine should take anticoagulants?

Current guidelines for dealing with migraines do not recommend the use of anticoagulants (such as aspirin) to treat the condition.

Physicians speculate, however, whether patients with a particularly high risk of heart disease would benefit from the treatment with so-called anticoagulant (anticoagulant).

Migraine should be considered as a potent and consistent risk factor for most cardiovascular diseases, the researchers explain.

There is now much evidence that migraine should be taken seriously as a strong cardiovascular risk marker, say the authors.

Measures to reduce risk are long overdue, but unfortunately, the funding of research into migraine has been seriously neglected, add the physicians. (as, ad)