Heart Beat: Migraine and heart disease

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Heart Beat: Migraine and heart disease

Heart Beat

Migraine and heart disease

A connection between migraine and stroke has been suggested for some time. Now researchers are making a case that migraine with aura doubles the risk of having chest pain (angina), a heart attack, or dying of cardiovascular disease in women. Between 20% and 30% of migraine sufferers experience aura — signs like seeing flashing lights or smelling nonexistent smells that foreshadow the onset of a migraine headache.

A doubling of risk seems like a lot, but it isn’t as bad as it sounds. It means upping the ante from 2 major cardiovascular events per 1,000 women each year to about 4 per 1,000. Migraine without aura isn’t linked with heart disease, according to the report in the July 19, 2006, Journal of the American Medical Association.

How migraine with aura might influence heart disease isn’t known. Nor do we know if treating migraine diminishes the risk. “What we can say is that women — and probably men — who have migraine with aura may benefit from adopting a lifestyle that minimizes cardiovascular risk factors in order to offset the increase in heart disease risk posed by migraine,” says study leader Dr. Tobias Kurth, a neuroepidemiologist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Print This

Last updated:	October 01, 2006

Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.

This information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. By using AOL Body, you indicate that you have read, understood, and agreed to our Terms of Service, Use of Content Agreement and AOL Body Advertising Policy. Read more about our content partners.