Migraine and risk of stroke

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Abstract

Migraine and stroke are two common and heterogeneous neurovascular disorders responsible for a significant burden for those affected and a great economic cost for the society. There is growing evidence that migraine increases the overall risk of cerebrovascular diseases. In this review, based on available literature through a PubMed search, we found that ischaemic stroke in people with migraine is strongly associated with migraine with aura, young age, female sex, use of oral contraceptives and smoking habits. The risk of transient ischaemic attack also seems to be increased in people with migraine, although this issue has not been extensively investigated. Although migraine appears to be associated with haemorrhagic stroke, the migraine aura status has a small influence on this relationship. Neuroimaging studies have revealed a higher prevalence of asymptomatic structural brain lesions in people with migraine. They are also more likely to have unfavourable vascular risk factors; however, the increased risk of stroke seems to be more apparent among people with migraine without traditional risk factors. The mechanism behind the migraine-stroke association is unknown. In light of the higher risk of stroke in people with migraine with aura, it is important to identify and modify any vascular risk factor. There is currently no direct evidence to support that a migraine prophylactic treatment can reduce future stroke in people with migraine.

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Migraine and cardiovascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis

Markus Schürks, Pamela M Rist, Marcelo E. Bigal … (2009)

Objective To evaluate the association between migraine and cardiovascular disease, including stroke, myocardial infarction, and death due to cardiovascular disease. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources Electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library) and reference lists of included studies and reviews published until January 2009. Selection criteria Case-control and cohort studies investigating the association between any migraine or specific migraine subtypes and cardiovascular disease. Review methods Two investigators independently assessed eligibility of identified studies in a two step approach. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Studies were grouped according to a priori categories on migraine and cardiovascular disease. Data extraction Two investigators extracted data. Pooled relative risks and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results Studies were heterogeneous for participant characteristics and definition of cardiovascular disease. Nine studies investigated the association between any migraine and ischaemic stroke (pooled relative risk 1.73, 95% confidence interval 1.31 to 2.29). Additional analyses indicated a significantly higher risk among people who had migraine with aura (2.16, 1.53 to 3.03) compared with people who had migraine without aura (1.23, 0.90 to 1.69; meta-regression for aura status P=0.02). Furthermore, results suggested a greater risk among women (2.08, 1.13 to 3.84) compared with men (1.37, 0.89 to 2.11). Age less than 45 years, smoking, and oral contraceptive use further increased the risk. Eight studies investigated the association between migraine and myocardial infarction (1.12, 0.95 to 1.32) and five between migraine and death due to cardiovascular disease (1.03, 0.79 to 1.34). Only one study investigated the association between women who had migraine with aura and myocardial infarction and death due to cardiovascular disease, showing a twofold increased risk. Conclusion Migraine is associated with a twofold increased risk of ischaemic stroke, which is only apparent among people who have migraine with aura. Our results also suggest a higher risk among women and risk was further magnified for people with migraine who were aged less than 45, smokers, and women who used oral contraceptives. We did not find an overall association between any migraine and myocardial infarction or death due to cardiovascular disease. Too few studies are available to reliably evaluate the impact of modifying factors, such as migraine aura, on these associations.

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Migraine as a risk factor for subclinical brain lesions.

M Ferrari, Mark Kruit, Jacobus T N Bakkers … (2004)

Clinical series have suggested an increased prevalence of cerebral infarction and white matter lesions (WMLs) in migraine patients. It is not known whether these lesions are prevalent in the general migraine population. To compare the prevalence of brain infarcts and WMLs in migraine cases and controls from the general population and to identify migraine characteristics associated with these lesions. Cross-sectional, prevalence study of population-based sample of Dutch adults aged 30 to 60 years. Randomly selected patients with migraine with aura (n = 161), patients with migraine without aura (n = 134), and controls (n = 140), who were frequency matched to cases for age, sex, and place of residence. Nearly 50% of the cases had not been previously diagnosed by a physician. Brain magnetic resonance images were evaluated for infarcts, by location and vascular supply territory, and for periventricular WMLs (PVWMLs) and deep WMLs (DWMLs). The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of these brain lesions compared with controls were examined by migraine subtype (with or without aura) and monthly attack frequency ( or =1 attack), controlling for cardiovascular risk factors and use of vasoconstrictor migraine agents. All participants underwent a standard neurological examination. No participants reported a history of stroke or transient ischemic attack or had relevant abnormalities at standard neurological examination. We found no significant difference between patients with migraine and controls in overall infarct prevalence (8.1% vs 5.0%). However, in the cerebellar region of the posterior circulation territory, patients with migraine had a higher prevalence of infarct than controls (5.4% vs 0.7%; P =.02; adjusted OR, 7.1; 95% CI, 0.9-55). The adjusted OR for posterior infarct varied by migraine subtype and attack frequency. The adjusted OR was 13.7 (95% CI, 1.7-112) for patients with migraine with aura compared with controls. In patients with migraine with a frequency of attacks of 1 or more per month, the adjusted OR was 9.3 (95% CI, 1.1-76). The highest risk was in patients with migraine with aura with 1 attack or more per month (OR, 15.8; 95% CI, 1.8-140). Among women, the risk for high DWML load (top 20th percentile of the distribution of DWML load vs lower 80th percentile) was increased in patients with migraine compared with controls (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.0-4.1); this risk increased with attack frequency (highest in those with > or =1 attack per month: OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.2-5.7) but was similar in patients with migraine with or without aura. In men, controls and patients with migraine did not differ in the prevalence of DWMLs. There was no association between severity of PVWMLs and migraine, irrespective of sex or migraine frequency or subtype. These population-based findings suggest that some patients with migraine with and without aura are at increased risk for subclinical lesions in certain brain areas.

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The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition

Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society (IHS), (IHS) Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society, Society Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache … (2018)

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry

Journal ID (hwp): jnnp

Journal ID (publisher-id): jnnp

Title: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry

Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group (BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR )

ISSN (Print): 0022-3050

ISSN (Electronic): 1468-330X

Publication date (Print): June 2020

Publication date (Electronic): 26 March 2020

Volume: 91

Issue: 6

Pages: 593-604

Affiliations

[1 ] departmentDepartment of Neurology , St. Olavs hospital, Trondheim University Hospital , Trondheim, Norway

[2 ] departmentDepartment of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences , Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU , Trondheim, Norway

[3 ] departmentInstitute of Public Health , Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin , Berlin, Germany

[4 ] departmentDepartment of Neurosurgery , St. Olavs hospital, Trondheim University Hospital , Trondheim, Norway

[5 ] departmentDepartment of Neurology , Mayo Clinic Scottsdale , Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

Author notes

[Correspondence to ] Dr Lise R Øie, Department of Neurology, St Olavs hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim 7006, Norway; lise.r.oie@ 123456ntnu.no

Author information

David W Dodick http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9486-6790

Article

Publisher ID: jnnp-2018-318254

DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2018-318254

PMC ID: 7279194

PubMed ID: 32217787

SO-VID: 03771477-4e2d-410c-b410-c54418e6d1f1

License:

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

History

Date received : 03 September 2019

Date revision received : 17 March 2020

Date accepted : 17 March 2020

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Surgery

Keywords: migraine,stroke

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Surgery

Keywords: migraine, stroke

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