Men with migraine headaches have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, primarily due to increased risk for myocardial infarction, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association.
“This does not mean that individuals with migraine headaches should panic,” said Tobias Kurth, MD, ScD, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.

“However, individuals with migraines should be aware of proven cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol levels, smoking and obesity.”

The study in men comes shortly after Kurth and colleagues found that women with migraines -especially those accompanied by neurologic features such as visual disturbances known as migraine aura - had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
In the current study, men with a history of migraines had a 42-percent increased risk for myocardial infarction compared with men who did not have migraines - a finding similar to that of the study in women.

The study included 20,084 men participating in the Physicians’ Health Study. Migraine was reported in 7.2 percent of men. Researchers classified men as having migraine if they reported migraine during the first five years of the study. After the first five years, follow-up for the incidence of newly developed cardiovascular disease began.

The men, who were on average 56 years old and considered healthy at baseline, were asked about cardiovascular risk factors and occurrence of a first major event such as stroke, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular death during the 15.7 years of follow-up.

The 1,449 men who reported migraine had 2,236 major cardiovascular events during follow-up, a significant 24-percent increased risk that was primarily driven by a 42-percent increased risk of myocardial infarction.

Men with migraines had a 12-percent increased risk of ischemic stroke, 5-percent increased risk of revascularization, and 7-percent increased risk of cardiovascular death. However, none of the latter findings were statistically significant.

“This study and the study in women support the hypothesis that migraine is associated with heart disease,” Kurth said. “The exact reason why migraine may lead to cardiovascular disease, however, is not clear. Suspected mechanisms include an increase in factors that can result in blood clots, as well a genetic factor that can increase homocysteine levels, placing them at higher risk for cardiovascular disease.”

Most migraine headaches start in early adulthood up until age 30, he said. While the migraine headaches may disappear with increasing age, they still occur in some people later in life.

Migraine headaches are not as significant as known cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity. But people with migraines should be aware of their known risk factors and try to reduce them, Kurth said.