Migraine and cerebral infarction in young people

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate relationship between migraine and cerebral infarction in young people. Patients aging 16-44 years, referred for stroke and age- and gender-matched controls were investigated for migraine following the International Headache Society criteria. Included people were 314 strokes and 314 controls. Each group consisted of 150 men and 164 women. Of the 105 persons with migraine (16.7%), 57 had migraine with aura (9.1%). In women, migraine with aura was related to stroke [35 women among strokes (21.3%) vs. 9 among controls (5.5%), P < 0.0001], whereas migraine without aura was not. After multivariate analysis, migraine with aura remained independently associated with stroke together with hypertension, and the estro-progestinic utilization. In men, migraine was not associated with stroke. In conclusion, migraine with aura appears to be associated with ischemic stroke in young women, independently from other common risk factors.

Ischemic stroke in young adults: classification and risk factors

“…Migraine may be a less-well documented and even controversial risk factor for stroke, but an association between migraine and stroke, especially in young patients, has indeed been shown in the literature [6,[20][21][22]. Quite a large percentage of our patients had a history of migraine (21%).…”

Hypertension and migraine comorbidity: prevalence and risk of cerebrovascular events: evidence from a large, multicenter, cross-sectional survey in Italy (MIRACLES study)

“…Thus, the MIRACLES results add to the growing evidence that migraine is associated with increased risk of cerebrovascular events. Previously published studies reported an increased risk of stroke in young women with migraine [8,10,11,15,17,18]. In a meta-analysis of 14 observational studies, an increased risk of stroke in patients with migraine was found, with relative risk of 2.16 for migraine in general, 2.28 for migraine with aura, 1.56 for migraine without aura, and 2.76 for women younger than 45 years [12].…”

“…In fact, in recent decades, migraine, and specifically migraine with aura, has been associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], which is further increased by cigarette smoking and use of oral contraceptives [19].…”

The Impact of Migraine on Posterior Ocular Structures

“…Studies have detected an increased risk for ischemic stroke in patients who had migraine with aura [15–18]. Vasospasm emerging prior to or during the pain has been considered to occur concurrently in tissues located outside the brain, and, by extension, local infarctions have been considered to lead to histopathological and functional disorders at the tissue level.…”

“…Evidences from the literature suggest that there is a stronger vascular risk associated with MWA than with MWoA which focuses attention on the importance of the aura in vascular disease [15–18]. We speculated that a putative vascular mechanism linking migraine and modification of posterior ocular structures is specifically referred to MWA.…”