Migraine May Raise Cardiovascular Risks

Women who have migraines with aura may be at higher risk for major cardiovascular events. Tobias Kurth, from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (France), and colleagues assessed data collected from 27,860 women, ages 45 and older, enrolled in the Women’s Health Study who were free of cardiovascular disease at the start of the study, and for whom both self-reported information on migraines and lipid measurements were available. At the start of the study, 5,130 women reported having migraines, including 1,435 who had migraine with aura.  Over 15 years of follow-up, there were 1,030 major cardiovascular events, yielding an incidence rate of 2.4 per 1,000 women per year. Among the measured risk factors, the strongest contributor was a systolic blood pressure of at least 180 mmHg, with an incident rate 9.8 per 1,000 women per year. Importantly, migraine with aura was a strong second, with an incident rate of 7.9 per 1,000 women per year.”  The lead investigator comments that migraine with aura is a “strong relative contributor” to an increased cardiovascular risk among women.