New research has shown that both men and women who experience migraine headaches also carry an increased risk of ischaemic stroke.
Further to this, women may also carry an additional risk of heart attack and haemorrhagic stroke.
It is believed that those diagnosed with migraine are at an increased risk of having a stroke before the age of 60.
Previous studies have suggested that younger women are at a higher risk of ischaemic stroke, however, it has remained unclear whether women with migraine also carry an increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke, this was the aim of the new research.
For this study, conducted by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark, the team carried out a nationwide study of Danish medical records collected from 1996 to 2018, from individuals aged 18 to 60.
From this, they were then able to identify men and women with migraine, based on their prescription drug records and then compared their risk of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke before the age of 60 to the risks faced by those in the general population without migraine.
Their findings showed that both men and women with migraine had a similarly increased risk of ischaemic stroke.
However, women with migraine may also carry a slightly increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke compared to men with migraine and the general population.
Thus, these results suggest that women are more greatly impacted by migraine, especially since the condition is more commonly diagnosed in women.
The researchers note that since they used prescription drug records to identify patients with migraine, they may have missed untreated individuals, which could have resulted in an underestimation of the contribution of migraine to these health problems.
Since stroke can lead to life-long disabilities or even death, the researchers argue that it is vital to identify persons at increased risk to facilitate targeted preventative therapies.
Lead of the study, Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang, says: “Migraine was associated with a similarly increased risk of ischaemic stroke among young men and women.
“However, migraine may be associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and haemorrhagic stroke only among women.”
