Migraines are more than just bad headaches. They’re severe and often come with nausea, dizziness, and sensitivity to light and sound.
Many people in the world, especially women, suffer from migraines.
But there’s something else we need to know about migraines: they might increase the risk of serious heart and brain problems.
The Connection between Migraines and Strokes
Researchers have found that people who get migraines may have a higher chance of having a stroke or heart attack before they turn 60.
A stroke happens when blood flow to the brain is interrupted. There are two types of stroke: ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke.
An ischemic stroke is when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel leading to the brain. A hemorrhagic stroke is when a blood vessel in the brain bursts.
What the Researchers Found
A group of scientists led by Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang at Aarhus University in Denmark decided to look deeper into this.
They studied the health records of Danish people between 18 and 60 years old from 1996 to 2018. They identified men and women who had migraines based on their medicine records.
They compared these people’s risk of having a heart attack, or an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke before age 60, with people who didn’t have migraines.
The researchers found something interesting. Both men and women who had migraines had a similar increased risk of having an ischemic stroke.
But women who had migraines also seemed to have a slightly higher risk of having a heart attack or a hemorrhagic stroke compared to men with migraines and the general population.
Implications of the Findings
These findings mean that migraines can have more serious effects, especially for women.
The scientists pointed out that they might have missed some people with migraines because they only looked at prescription drug records.
This means that the actual impact of migraines might be even bigger than what they found.
Heart attacks and strokes can cause serious, long-term problems, or even death. That’s why it’s so important to find out who is at a higher risk.
This can help doctors target these people with special treatments to prevent these serious health problems.
Hvitfeldt Fuglsang summed it up by saying, “Migraines were linked with a similar increased risk of ischemic stroke in young men and women.
However, migraines might also increase the risk of heart attack and hemorrhagic stroke, but only in women.”
If you care about stroke, please read studies about how to eat to prevent stroke, and scientists find a breakfast linked to better blood vessel health.
For more information about health, please read studies about vitamin D deficiency linked to chronic inflammation, and tart cherry could help reduce inflammation.
The study was published in PLoS Medicine.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
