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Migraines associated with increased stroke risk
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Patients who developed migraine with aura later in life were at increased risk for stroke, according to findings recently published in Headache.
“It remains unclear if the higher risk of CVD is related to the exposure to migraine at an earlier age or is associated with aging-related CVD risk. Understanding of the association between the age of onset of migraine and ischemic stroke in late life may shed light on the effect of migraine on cerebrovascular disease,” X. Michelle Androulakis, MD, MS, of the department of neurology at the University of South Carolina, and colleagues wrote.
Researchers reviewed data from 447 patients with migraine with aura and 1,128 patients without this condition, who were followed for occurrence of ischemic stroke over 20 years as part of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.
Androulakis and colleagues found an association between the age of migraine with aura onset (50 years of age and older) and ischemic stroke vs. those who had no headache (multivariable adjusted HR = 2.17; 95% CI, 1.39–3.39)
In addition, patients who began experiencing migraine with aura aged 50 years and younger did not have association with stroke, and patients who experienced migraine without aura did not have an increased risk for stroke, regardless of the age the migraines began. The absolute risk for stroke in patients who had migraine with aura was 8.27% and in patients with migraine without aura was 4.25%.
The findings suggest that determining the age a patient started developing migraine with aura would be beneficial as part of the stroke risk assessment process, according to researchers. – by Janel Miller
Disclosures : Androuloukis reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.