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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 The authors found that having migraines appeared to raise the risk for experiencing a blood clot in the veins. Among the 111 participants (23 men and 88 women) who had been diagnosed with a migraine at some point in their lives, almost 19 percent had experienced one or more instances of venous thrombosis. By comparison, the researchers noted that among those who had no history of migraines just under 8 percent had experienced the blood clotting condition.
About 80 percent of the recorded clot "events" were found to have coincided with an active migraine incident, the team noted.
Furthermore, the researchers observed that, contrary to popular thinking, having a history of migraines in no way raised the risk for developing a hardening of the arteries. In fact, they noted that atherosclerosis actually appeared to be less pronounced among migraine patients.
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Although Kiechl and his associates theorized that the blood of migraine patients might be more susceptible to clotting, the researchers have not yet identified the underlying mechanism linking migraines with blood clot risk.
"Further studies are required to confirm our findings and explore why this is the case, and what can be done against it," Kiechl said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Rose Dotson, a clinical associate professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve Medical School and a neurologist at University Hospital's Case Medical Center in Cleveland, said she viewed the findings as having great importance.
"We have known for quite some time that people who have migraines are more prone to having strokes," she noted. "But this study gives us new and exciting information about this very real concern, which will change how we're going to look at migraine patients, how we're going to evaluate them, and how we're going to counsel them."
"Of course, we need to figure out exactly why these patients are having these clots," Dotson added. "But already this work moves us along with our understanding of the problem."
More information
For more on migraines, visit the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
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