Doctors need to pay special attention to people with migraine with aura
as they could be at increased risk of stroke or heart attack, a London
conference heard today.
Professor Tobias Kurth, a leading neuroepidemiologist from Harvard
Medical School, USA, has found the links between migraine with aura and
cardiovascular events are now so strong that GPs need to take them seriously.
Speaking at the European Headache and Migraine Trust International
Congress 2008 (EHMTIC), which has attracted 750 specialists in the field,
Professor Kurth said recent research shows migraine with aura is associated
with an increased risk of stroke, angina and heart attack. Migraine with aura
affects around 1.2million people in the UK alone.
People suffering migraine with aura can experience symptoms such as
seeing zigzags or spots and feeling numbness. Symptoms occur in adults before
the headache, but in children they may be simultaneous.
Kurth said women aged 45 and older who had migraine with aura faced a
four-fold increased risk of stroke even if they had a low cardio-vascular
risk profile, including low cholesterol levels. Young women who have migraine
with aura and smoke are eight times more likely to suffer a stroke compared
to young female smokers who don't have migraine with aura.
"We should consider migraine with aura when we look at a person's risk of
having a stroke or a heart attack," claimed Professor Kurth. "You may think
that a person is at low risk because they don't have high blood pressure or
cholesterol, but data suggest that having migraine with aura can increase the
risk of cardiovascular events even among apparently healthy individuals with
a low cardiovascular risk profile."
"Doctors should try to reduce cardiovascular risk factors and strongly
advise young women who experience migraine with aura not to smoke.
Additionally, birth control pill alternatives should be discussed," continued
Kurth.
Kurth called for further research into migraine with aura and the risks
of stroke and heart attack. "We need to know which sub-groups of patients
with migraine with aura are at the highest risk. We also need more data on
whether the prevention of migraine with aura attacks can actually reduce a
person's risk of vascular events."
European Headache and Migraine Trust International Congress