Via JAMA. 2006;296:283-291.
Migraine with aura is associated with increased risk of major cardiovascular disease (CVD), myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and death due to ischemic CVD, coronary revascularization and angina. Active migraine without aura was not associated with increased risk of any CVD event.
This prospective cohort-type study enrolled 27,840 women aged 45 years or older who were participating in the Women’s Health Study, were free of CVD and angina at study entry (1992-1995), and who had information on self-reported migraine and aura status, and lipid measurements. This report is based on follow-up data through March 2004.
At baseline, 5125 women (18.4%) reported any history of migraine; of the 3610 with active migraine (migraine in the prior year), 1434 (39.7%) indicated aura symptoms.
During a mean of 10 years of follow-up, 580 major CVD events occurred. Compared with women with no migraine history, women who reported active migraine with aura had multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of 2.15 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.58-2.92; P<.001) for major CVD, 1.91 (95% CI, 1.17-3.10; P = .01) for ischemic stroke, 2.08 (95% CI, 1.30-3.31; P = .002) for myocardial infarction, 1.74 (95% CI, 1.23-2.46; P = .002) for coronary revascularization, 1.71 (95% CI, 1.16-2.53; P = .007) for angina, and 2.33 (95% CI, 1.21-4.51; P = .01) for ischemic CVD death.
After adjusting for age, there were 18 additional major CVD events attributable to migraine with aura per 10 000 women per year. Women who reported active migraine without aura did not have increased risk of any vascular events or angina.
It will be nice when a novel study evaluates the prevention (triptans, ASA, beta-blockers) of this association between migraine with aura and CVD.
Link to: Acetaminophen + aspirin + caffeine to treat acute attacks of migraine
Regards,
Jon Mikel Iñarritu, M.D.
I have problems with migraine and this is not only womens problem…
This particular study sums up all the blogs on CVDs that I’ve come across so far and all I can conclude that women are more likely to have suffered from CVDs in the mid or late stages of their lives.
The rejection of the study or statistics doesn’t really reduce the risks of CVDs in women, now does it?
There’s been a bit of controversy over this particular study’s authors and their failure to disclose affiliations with drug companies. See my post at A Hearty Life for more info.