They found that women and men who experience migraine carry an elevated risk of having an ischaemic stroke – the most common form of stroke, caused by a blood clot.
The study, published in PLOS Medicine, also revealed that women alone may carry an additional risk of heart attack and haemorrhagic stroke – a stroke caused by a blood vessel bursting.
Study leader Doctor Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang, from Aarhus University, explained: “People diagnosed with migraine are believed to have a higher risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke before the age of 60.
“Previous studies have suggested that the increased risk of ischaemic stroke – when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel to the brain – mostly affects young women.
“It was unclear whether women with migraine also carry a higher risk of heart attack and haemorrhagic stroke – when an artery in the brain bursts – compared to men, which was the aim of the new research.”
As part of the study, her team conducted a nationwide study of Danish medical records collected from 1996 to 2018, from people aged 18 to 60.
They identified men and women with migraine based on their prescription drug records and compared their risk of a heart attack and ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke before the age of 60 to the risks faced by people in the general population who didn’t suffer migraine.
Contrary to earlier findings, the analysis showed that both men and women with migraine had a similarly increased risk of ischaemic stroke.
However, women with migraines may also carry a slightly higher risk of heart attack and haemorrhagic stroke, compared to men with migraine and the general population.
Overall, the results suggest that women are more greatly impacted by migraine, especially since the condition is predominantly diagnosed in women.
Dr Hvitfeldt Fuglsang added: “Migraine was associated with a similarly increased risk of ischemic stroke among young men and women.
“However, migraine may be associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and haemorrhagic stroke only among women.”
There were limitations to the study, however.
The researchers point out that since they used prescription drug records to identify patients with migraine, they may have missed untreated people, which could have resulted in an underestimation of the contribution of migraine to those health problems.
They say it is vital to identify people at increased risk to enable targeted preventative therapies.
The acronym “act fast” is used to identify whether someone is having a stroke.
- Face – the face may have dropped on one side, the person may not be able to smile, or their mouth or eye may have drooped
- Arms – the person may not be able to lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness in one arm
- Speech – their speech may be slurred or garbled, or the person may not be able to talk at all despite appearing to be awake; they may also have problems understanding what you’re saying to them
- Time – it’s time to dial 999 immediately if you notice any of these signs or symptoms.
If you think someone is experiencing a stroke you should call 999.
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