Killer headache

A joint US-Danish study warned that migraine headaches may lead to heart disease, blood clots and stroke.

The study - conducted by researchers from the Danish Aarhus University Hospital and the American Stanford University and published in the British Medical Journal - indicated that migraine is a strong risk factor for most cardiovascular diseases and stroke in both men and women, explaining that “it may be cause of death in some cases.

The researchers looked at data on 51,032 Danes who suffer from migraines, according to data from the National Patient Registry of Denmark, which includes a follow-up of about 19 years (from January 1995 to November 2013), and compared them with 510,320 people without migraines. The 35-year-old suffers from it, and the percentage of women among them is 71%.

According to the results of the study, the risk of heart attack is 1.47 times higher for people with migraines, 1.8 times the risk for stroke, 1.58 times the risk for venous thromboembolism, and 1.38 times the risk for atrial fibrillation. The study found that out of every 1,000 people with migraines, 25 had heart attacks, compared with 17 without migraines, 45 had strokes, compared with 25 without migraines, and 27 had venous blood clots. , compared to 17 who did not suffer from migraine, 47 who had atrial fibrillation, compared to 34 who did not suffer from migraine, and 19 who had heart failure, compared to 18 who did not suffer from migraine.

Women are worse off

She explained that migraine affects 15% of the world's population (about one billion people), and that women are more likely to suffer from migraines than men, noting that 90% of migraine patients suffer from it for the first time before the age of 50.

The study recommended generous spending on migraine research; To learn more about its causes and consequences, she also advised women who suffer from migraines to quickly undergo the necessary medical analyzes and examinations.

Kasper Adelborg - Head of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, and the lead researcher on the study - told Al-Salam: "We found a lot of evidence that confirms that migraines may lead dangerously to heart disease, and the study concluded in general that there is A close relationship between migraine and the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, venous thromboembolism, and atrial fibrillation, and migraine also increases the risk of fatal stroke, paralysis and venous thromboembolism,” stressing that “women with migraines are naturally more likely to develop heart disease.”

In response to a question for science about what a previous German-American study stated that migraines may be caused by a small hole in the heart, Adelburg says: "The presence of a small hole between the left and right atrium is already more common among patients who suffer from migraines." .

A study conducted by researchers from Germany and the United States of America revealed that migraines, especially in women, may lead to heart disease, including fatal heart attacks.

The study was conducted on 115,541 women between the ages of 25 and 42, who do not suffer from angina or cardiovascular disease, among whom 17,531 thousand (15.2%) suffer from migraine headaches at the beginning of the year the researchers chose to start analyzing their data (1989), as It was found that having a migraine raises the incidence of heart disease to 50%, and women with migraines were more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and myocardial infarction.