High triglycerides also a risk factor: migraine with aura history boosts stroke risk.(Clinical Rounds)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Women with a history of migraine with aura are at subsequent increased risk of stroke, according to new data from the landmark prospective Women's Health Study.

Migraine without aura, however, didn't confer increased stroke risk in the study. Neither did nonmigrainous headaches, Dr. Tobias Kurth said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

In a separate analysis of Women's Health Study (WHS) data, he found that hypertriglyceridemia doubled a participant's risk of ischemic stroke.

The WHS is a massive, ongoing prospective National Institutes of Health-sponsored study with primary aims to assess the effects of daily aspirin and vitamin E on rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The headache study involved 39,754 female health professionals followed prospectively for an average of 9 years. During that time, 385 women had a stroke; 80% of the strokes were ischemic.

At baseline, 13.0% of participants reported experiencing migraine within the previous year, with 39.8% of affected women reporting an accompanying aura. A smaller group reported migraine, but not in the last year.

In a multivariate analysis with adjustment for the conventional stroke risk factors, women with a baseline history of migraine with aura proved to be at a statistically significant 53% increased risk of total stroke and a 70% increased risk of ischemic stroke, compared with women without a history of headache.