2023-06-14 10:58:00
Both men and women who suffer from migraine have a higher risk of having an ischemic stroke. For women, in particular, migraine is also linked to an increased likelihood of having a myocardial infarction and a hemorrhagic stroke. This is demonstrated by a study by the University of Aarhus, in Denmark, published in ‘Plos Medicine’. The relationship between migraine and stroke risk was one of the central themes of the ‘Rome Peripheral Interventions’ meeting, sponsored by the Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology (Gise), the Italian Association of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology (Ainr) and the Italian Society of Surgery vascular and endovascular (Sicve), recently completed in Rome.
“Cerebral stroke, ischemic or hemorrhagic, is the first cause of disability in adults and the third cause of death after cardiovascular disease and oncological diseases – underlines Giovanni Esposito, Ordinary of Cardiology, director of the UOC of Cardiology, Hemodynamics and Utic of the Federico II University Hospital of Naples and president of Gise -. It is not a disease that affects only the elderly, but also young people. In Italy, there are about 150,000 new cases of cerebral ictus a year, of which 4,200 affect people under the age of 45 and 10,000 under the age of 54”.
The Danish study was based on the analysis of medical records collected from 1996 to 2018, relating to individuals aged between 18 and 60 years. The researchers identified men and women who suffered from migraine based on drug prescription data and compared their risk of ischemic and hemorrhagic heart attack and stroke before age 60 with that of people in the general population without migraine.
“The analysis showed that both men and women who suffered from migraine had a greater risk of ischemic stroke – explains Esposito -. Notably, women who suffered from migraine were also found to be at higher risk of myocardial infarction and haemorrhagic stroke, compared with men who suffered from migraine and the general population without migraine. Since myocardial infarction and stroke can cause lifelong disability or even death, having identified migraine as a possible ‘spy’ can help us to recognize early on those most at risk and to prepare interventions and targeted preventive therapies”.
The reason for the association between migraine and cardiovascular disease is still unclear. “There may be links to genetic factors or common risk factors between stroke and migraine, such as hypertension, obesity and smoking and drug use – Esposito specifies -. However, more research is needed to understand and explain the relationship between migraine and cardiovascular risk,” she concludes.
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