A new study has found different cardiovascular risks for men and women who suffer regular migraine.
Migraine is known to be linked to heart attack and stroke, but previous studies suggested that the risk of ischaemic stroke is mainly raised in young women.
Danish researchers investigated further whether the increase in these risks varies between men and women.
Dr Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang of Aarhus University, Denmark, and colleagues used Danish national registries from 1996 to 2018 to identify women and men with migraine, based on drug prescribing.
Contrary to previous findings, the analysis showed that the increased risk of ischaemic stroke by age 60 was similar for both men and women with migraine.
But it suggested that the link to heart attack is stronger in women, and that the risk of haemorrhagic stroke was also stronger in women.
Details were published yesterday in PLoS Medicine.
The authors pointed out the absolute risks were low. They state: “The impact of migraine on risk of premature heart attack may be slightly greater for women or potentially only exist for women.
“Furthermore, a minor impact of migraine may be present for haemorrhagic stroke among women only.”
They conclude that, as migraine is much more prevalent in women, it “will likely result in a greater migraine associated disease burden in society for women.”
Fuglsang, C. H. et al. Migraine and risk of premature myocardial infarction and stroke among men and women: A Danish population-based cohort study. PLoS Medicine 13 June 2023; doi 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004238
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