People who suffer migraines may have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke than those without the painful headaches.

Previous studies have uncovered higher risks of heart problems and stroke among adults with migraine plus aura, but findings have been less consistent regarding people who have migraines without aura - the group that accounts for about 80 percent of migraine sufferers. As a group, migraine sufferers might have a relatively higher risk of cardiovascular problems, but their absolute risk is small.

Researchers studied 6,100 migraine patients where 4 percent reported a history of heart attack. The rate was 2 percent among the 5,243 people in the comparison group without migraine. Similarly, 2 percent of the migraine group reported a history of stroke, versus 1.2 percent of the comparison group. A further look showed that the increased stroke risk was only in the migraine with aura group; nearly 4 percent had a history of stroke, compared with just over 1 percent of migraine sufferers without aura symptoms.

It was found that the people with migraine did have higher rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes than those in the comparison group. Those rates did not, however, explain the link between migraine and heart problems and stroke. So exactly why migraine is connected to cardiovascular disease remains unclear. One possibility, according to the researchers, is that some people have an underlying susceptibility to both migraines and cardiovascular disease.

The findings add to evidence linking migraines to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. They also suggest that the risks are not limited to people whose migraines are accompanied by neurological symptoms known as aura - visual disturbances, numbness, tingling or other bodily sensations that precede the headache.
The researchers agreed that the absolute risks are small but their findings should encourage migraine sufferers to be particularly careful about curbing the more common and significant risk factors for heart disease and stroke - such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity.
The precise cause of migraine headache is not fully understood, but the pain involves constriction, and then swelling, of brain blood vessels. The current findings support the notion that people with migraine may have dysfunction in the blood vessels throughout the body.

While the researchers noted that drugs that prevent migraine attacks could theoretically lower the risk of cardiovascular problems, certain medications might have negative effects; some anti-inflammatory painkillers have been linked to cardiovascular risks while migraine drugs known as "ergots" tend to constrict blood vessels throughout the body.

However, future studies are needed to look at whether certain migraine sufferers are at particular risk of heart problems and stroke - such as those with frequent headaches or frequent aura symptoms. Research should also investigate the effects of migraine treatment.