A study published in Neurology has recently found that high diastolic blood pressure that is when the heart is resting between beats, is slightly associated with a slightly higher likelihood of migraine in female participants. But this study did not find an increased risk between other cardiovascular risk factors and migraine.
Past studies show that migraine increases the risk of the development of some cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack and heart disease. But the relationship between migraine and these risk factors is still not clear.
In this study, researchers involved 7,266 individuals. They had an average age of 67. 15% of them were experiencing previous or current migraines. These participants underwent physical exams and provided blood samples. They were also asked about migraine experiences, including severe pain that affected their daily activities.
When researchers observed the collected data after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors, they found that females with higher diastolic blood pressure had a 16% increased likelihood of migraine per standard deviation increase in diastolic blood pressure. On the other hand, researchers did not find any link between cardiovascular problems and migraines.
Researchers also examined some risk factors like diabetes, smoking, obesity, and high cholesterol. They found that there was no link between high cholesterol and obesity in women. But smoking was linked to a 28% lower chance of having migraines and diabetes was linked to a 26% lower chance of having migraine.
Researchers of this study suggest that migraines are not directly related to traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease. But the results should be interpreted cautiously, as they were primarily aimed at middle-aged and older individuals, and future studies are needed in younger, longer-following groups.
This study has some limitations such as the small number of male migraine participants. Hence there is a need for further research to understand more about the link between cardiovascular risk factors and migraine in males.
The results of this study show that high diastolic blood pressure increases the risk of migraine in females. Hence healthcare professionals should consider this study and make some new strategies. They should be very careful while treating women with the problem of high diastolic blood pressure. They should prescribe them some medications that effectively treat high diastolic blood pressure. Hence, they can reduce the risk of migraine.
