Vascular Health Associated With Migraine Risk Among Adult Women

A healthy vascular system, according to the Framingham risk score (FRS), was found to be associated with active migraine status or future development of migraine among women, according to the results of a study published in Neurology.

Data for this analysis were sourced from the Women’s Health Study, which was a randomized controlled trial that evaluated the effect of low-dose aspirin and vitamin E supplementation on the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer among women (N=27,539) working as health professionals in the United States between 1992 and 1995. In this study, migraine status was compared with vascular health as measured by FRS. Participants were stratified by 10-year risk for coronary heart disease with ≤1% risk (FRS ≤12 points), 2% to 4% risk (FRS 13-16 points), 5% to 9% risk (FRS 17-19 points), and ≥10% risk (FRS ≥20 points), respectively. Migraine status was determined by responses to 3 questions that evaluated lifetime history, past-year history, and new onset of migraine since the last study assessment.

The mean age of study participants across all FRS categories ranged from 51.3 to 63.0 years, mean body mass index (BMI) ranged from 25.0 to 28.0 kg/m², 3.3% to 63.1% were receiving treatment for hypertension, 28.0% to 47.4% were undergoing treatment with postmenopausal hormones, and 78.3% to 82.0% had never had a migraine, respectively. Stratified by ≤1% (n=14,865), 2%-4% (n=8406), 5%-9% (n=3173), and ≥10% (n=1095) risk categories, age, systolic blood pressure, BMI, and total cholesterol increased with increasing FRS risk.

Compared with the lowest-risk category, a history of migraine at baseline was associated with 2% to 4% (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.23; 95% CI, 1.09-1.39), 5% to 9% (aOR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.21-1.68), and ≥10% (aOR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.39-2.23) risk.

Conversely, 2% to 4% (aOR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.72-0.85), 5% to 9% (aOR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.61-0.79), and ≥10% (aOR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.52-0.80) risk groups were less likely to have migraine at baseline as well as incident migraine after baseline (aOR, 2%-4%: 0.61; 5%-9%: 0.46; ≥10%: 0.42) compared with the lowest-risk group.

In sensitivity analyses, the associations between migraine at baseline and incident migraine were attenuated after adjusting for age.

Authors of this study found that a history of migraine was positively correlated with FRS risk among adult women, but current migraine or the onset of new migraine symptoms was negatively associated with FRS risk. The researchers advise that “[t]he biological mechanisms underlying these observations, as well as how our observations might be related to specific cardiovascular disease endpoints, remain to be studied.”

Disclosure: Some study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.