Migraine with 'aura' linked to heart attacks

Researchers say that of the 28 million Americans who suffer from migraines, those who experience an "aura" before the start of the pain have an increased risk for heart attack or stroke.

Migraine is far more common in women than men and around one-third of sufferers have some sort of preceding aura to attacks which causes dizziness, flashes or spots of light, and temporary loss of vision.

Now that aura beforehand has been linked in a study to an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

Researchers at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, examined data on 27,840 U.S. women aged 45 years or older over a five year period who were participating in the Women's Health Study.

The women were free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and angina at study entry and self-reported migraine and aura status, and lipid measurements.

At the outset 5,125 women reported a history of migraine and of those 1,434 experienced aura symptoms.

The researchers found during a 10 year follow-up, that 580 major CVD events occurred in that group.

Even after age was taken into account, there were 18 additional major CVD events attributable to migraine with aura per 10 000 women per year.

Although migraine with aura has been previously linked to an increased risk of ischemic stroke, the link with cardiovascular disease and coronary events was unclear.

Study author Dr. Tobias Kurth says they found that there were 18 additional cases per 10,000 women per year in migraine suffers with aura and though that risk of stroke or heart problems was double, the problems can take a long time to appear and there are more significant risk factors such as smoking and high cholesterol.

A common characteristic in those with cardiovascular disease and those who experience an aura before a migraine is an increased level of homocysteine in the body.

Homocysteine is an amino acid that assists in cell metabolism but which can damage the lining of blood vessels and enhance blood clotting.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.