11 Jun Migraine with Aura Linked to Cardiovascular Disease Risk

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tobias Kurth, MD, ScD (Pronouns: he/him)
Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology
Director, Institute of Public Health
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Migraine (with aura) has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease but its absolute contribution in relation to other major vascular risk factors was not unclear.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: Our study finds that among women (as we only studied women) migraine with aura is a strong absolute contributor to cardiovascular disease. While elevated systolic blood pressure, currently smoking and having diabetes are the strongest absolute contributors, migraine with aura was a stronger contributor as, for example, being obese or having high lipid values.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? 

Response: That migraine with aura should be considered an important risk marker for increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: Future research should help to understand whether strategies to treat migraine help preventing cardiovascular disease. We also need to understand whether our findings can also be found in men. 

MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Response: Please see the full disclosures in the paper. My disclosures are: fees from Eli Lilly, Newsenslab, CoLucid, Total, Novartis, and Daiinchi Sanko and a grant from Amgen as well as personal fees from The BMJ. 

Citation:

Kurth T, Rist PM, Ridker PM, Kotler G, Bubes V, Buring JE. Association of Migraine With Aura and Other Risk Factors With Incident Cardiovascular Disease in Women. JAMA. 2020;323(22):2281–2289. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.7172

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Last Updated on June 11, 2020 by Marie Benz MD FAAD