Cardiovascular Risk of Migraine in Men and Women

The association of migraine, particularly migraine with aura—characterized by focal neurological symptoms—and different forms of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular mortality has been a topic of much debate. However, with recent advances made in this field, migraine with aura has now been acknowledged as an established risk factor for (subclinical) ischemic lesions in the brain and white matter lesions. Moreover, a broader range of ischemic vascular disorders, including myocardial ischemia, has been studied. Although migraine mainly affects young women and the majority of data available on an association with cardiovascular disease is based on females, an association between migraine and cardiovascular disease has also been observed in men. The assumption that the presence or absence of cardiovascular disease influences the additional cardiovascular risk associated with migraine therefore may have consequences for the choices of pharmacological antimigraine treatment.