Individuals who suffer from migraines with aura (temporary visual or sensory disturbances before or during a migraine headache) are at a higher risk of dying from heart disease or stroke, according to research published today in the British Medical Journal.

This is the first large population-based study showing a link between migraine and overall mortality as well as specific mortality.

The findings support increasing evidence that migraine, particularly with aura, is associated with death from heart disease. The researchers stress, however, that the individual risk for a migraine sufferer remains low.

The authors, led by Larus Gudmundsson from the University of Iceland, assessed the impact of mid-life migraine episodes in 18,725 men and women born between 1907 and 1935 who took part in the Reykjavik Study (set up in 1967 by the Icelandic Heart Association to study heart disease in Iceland). In total the research team explored over 470,000 person-years of data with a follow-up of 26 years.

Gudmundsson and colleagues used questionnaires to assess migraine with and without aura. [Read more...]