Women With Migraines at Higher Risk of Stroke

And smoking and oral contraceptives heighten that risk, study finds.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Thursday, August 9, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

THURSDAY, Aug. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Women who suffer from migraines that are accompanied by visual symptoms -- usually called an aura -- are at a slightly increased risk of stroke, especially if they smoke and take oral contraceptives, a new study says.

"This should not be a cause of alarm to women," said lead researcher Dr. Steven Kittner, a professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "But it is something to take into account and discuss with their physician."

The risk that a young woman with migraines in the 15 to 44 age group will have a stroke might be 20 per 100,000, Kittner said. "That's a very small risk. Even if you increase it to 30 per 100,000, it is still a tiny risk."

But, if the woman smokes and has high blood pressure or diabetes, the risk of stroke will be higher, added Kittner, who's also director of the Maryland Stroke Center.

For the study, Kittner and his colleagues collected data on 386 young women, 15 to 49 years of age, who'd had a stroke. The researchers compared these women with 614 similar women who hadn't had a stroke.

They found that women with migraines with visual symptoms had a 1.5 greater risk of stroke, compared with women with no history of migraine.

However, women who had migraines and used oral contraceptives and smoked had a sevenfold increased risk of stroke, compared with women who had migraines with visual symptoms and didn't smoke or use oral birth control.

The researchers also said that the recent onset of migraines, as well as more frequent migraines and migraines that lasted longer, may play a part in increasing the risk of stroke.

"Migraine with visual symptoms should be considered a weak risk factor for stroke," Kittner said. "You can't do anything about it, but it may influence what other prevention measures one may take," he said.

The findings are published in the September issue of the journal Stroke.

Kittner advised that women who have migraines with visual aura should stop smoking and discuss with their doctor the pros and cons of using oral contraceptives.