February 16, 2009

reaction to a possible genetic link between migraine and strokes/heart attacks in women, as published in Neurology

The study suggested a possible raised risk of heart attack and stroke in women who suffer from migraine while also carrying certain genetic variants.

Prof Peter Goadsby, University of California, San Francisco and Institute of Neurology, London, said:

“The paper reports a large study of females over the age of 45. It confirms previous studies that find no increased risk for stroke or cardiovascular disease in migraine without aura patients; good news, as this represents about three-quarters of those affected by the disorder.

“Although the risk of cardiovascular disease is doubled in patients with active migraine with aura, it’s important to realise the risk is already small, and when you double a small risk you still have a small risk. The authors rightly note that there were few heart attacks and that the study needs repeating; the margin for error here is wide and it might be that the link isn’t there at all. We will only know when we see the results of more research.

“It should also be noted that the results do not apply to women under the age of 45 years.”