Clinic–based study of family history of vascular risk factors and migraine

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the presence of a positive family history (FH) of vascular risk factors between patients with migraine with aura (MA) and migraine without aura (MO), and in chronic migraine (CM) compared to other headache types. As migraine patients are typically too young to have developed vascular events, studying older relatives of migraine patients may be a practical means of evaluating associations between vascular risk factors and migraine. A cross-sectional study of a clinicbased sample of adults with migraine headache was carried out at the University of Utah. Predictor variables comprised first or second degree relatives with stroke, hypertension, diabetes or hypercholesterolaemia. Outcome measures comprised diagnosis of MA, MO or CM according to the revised International Headache Society criteria. There was no significant difference in FH of vascular risk factors in MA compared to MO (adjusted OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.61-1.78). CM was associated with a decreased risk of FH of stroke (OR=0.11, p=0.036). There was no significant difference in FH of vascular risk factors in MA patients compared to MO. CM patients were more likely to have a negative FH of stroke compared to other headache types, suggesting that CM is likely a neuronal disease rather than a vascular one.

Latin American consensus on guidelines for chronic migraine treatment

“…Furthermore, ischemic encephalic vascular accidents (EVAs) and migraine are associated 23 . Ischemic EVA is more prevalent in chronic migraine than in the general population; comparatively, episodic migraine shows greater comorbidity with ischemic EVA than chronic migraine 24 , which is also significantly less associated with family history of EVA than episodic migraine 25 .…”

Consenso Latinoamericano para las Directrices de Tratamiento de la Migraña Crónica

“…(24) La migraña crónica también se asocia significativamente menos a la historia familiar de AVE que la migraña episódica. (25)…”

Comorbid neuropathologies in migraine: an update on cerebrovascular and cardiovascular aspects

“…However, the main limitation to the risk factors hypothesis is that in the above reported studies as in other studies most of the vascular risk factors were present in the multivariate model which showed the association between migraine and cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases [ 70 , 88 , 89 , 103 ]. In addition, several studies indicated that the migraine–stroke association was present in the absence of traditional vascular risk factors and that the type of stroke was less frequently a large-vessel stroke or a small-vessel stroke with respect to the general stroke population [ 62 , 104 ].…”