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| This news site is not sanctioned by, nor part of, the Diamond Headache Foundation, The American Academy of Neurology OR The American Headache Society. |
| News covering selected sessions related to migraine from 2008 medical conferences. |
| Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology |
Chicago, IL April 15-18, 2008 |
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Migraine Frequency Tied to Cardiovascular
Risk |
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BY DON SCHRADER
Contributing Writer |
CHICAGO
(ECCC)— Migraine frequency may influence a woman’s
risk of stroke and myocardial infarction (MI), according to data
from the Women’s Health Study (WHS) presented by Dr. Tobias
Kurth on April 17 during the annual meeting of the American
Academy of Neurology.
WHS participants who had migraines weekly or more often had
almost a threefold increased risk of ischemic stroke. In
contrast, a migraine frequency of less than once a month was
associated with a 64% increased risk of MI.
However, after separating the migraineurs into those with and
without aura, investigators found that migraine with aura was
the driving force in the findings.
“The associations with migraine frequency are seen only in
migraine with aura, which means that for most patients with
migraine, this is not an issue,” said Dr. Kurth, an assistant
professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. “We found no
evidence of an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in
migraine without aura.”
The findings emerged from an analysis of 27,798 study
participants, ages 45 and older, who were free of cardiovascular
disease at the start of the study. The participants provided
baseline blood samples and information about headache history,
and investigators identified 3,568 participants who had active
migraine (1,428 with aura and 2,140 without). About 65% reported
a migraine frequency of less than 1 month, 30% a monthly
frequency, and 5% a frequency of weekly or more often.
During 11.9 years of follow-up, 706 cardiovascular disease
events occurred, as did 305 MIs, and 310 ischemic strokes.
Comparison of migraine frequency and event rates showed that a
migraine frequency of less than monthly increased the risk of a
cardiovascular event by 54%, and a frequency of at least weekly
increased the risk by 90%. A monthly frequency had no
association with cardiovascular risk.
Dr. Kurth reported that separate analyses of MI and ischemic
stroke showed that lowest migraine frequency was associated with
a hazard ratio of 1.64 compared with women without migraine.
Infrequent migraine was associated with a nonsignificant hazard
ratio of 1.45 for ischemic stroke.
Women who had frequent migraine had a hazard ratio of 2.74 for
ischemic stroke and a nonsignificant hazard ratio of 1.49 for
MI. Women whose migraines occurred monthly had no increased
cardiovascular risk.
Analysis by migraine type showed that infrequent (less than
monthly) migraine with aura almost quadrupled the risk of
ischemic stroke, whereas frequent migraine doubled the risk of
MI. Monthly frequency did not increase cardiovascular risk.
Women who had migraine without aura, regardless of frequency,
had a cardiovascular risk similar to that of women with no
history of migraine.
The findings corroborate those from previous studies, which have
consistently shown migraine with aura to be associate with an
increased risk of stroke and MI.
“Future studies should focus on identifying factors that put
migraineurs with aura at particular increased risk,” Dr. Kurth
pointed out. “Migraine prophylaxis may be a potential target to
decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease among women who have
migraine with aura.” |
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