Does Migraine slash Breast Cancer risk?
What, is this good news for migraine sufferers? A recent report suggests that women with migraine have a lower risk of breast cancer. Should we throw a migraine party?
Here are the details: Researchers looked at two studies of almost 3,500 post menopausal women (aged 55 to 79 years old) from around Seattle, USA. Migraine was not self-reported, but limited to diagnosis by a health professional. The report was that women with migraine had a 30% lower risk of breast cancer.
Sounds like a big number? Before you get too excited, look at the numbers. Among women with breast cancer in the study, about 19% had ever had a migraine attack. Among the women without breast cancer, about 14-15% had ever had a migraine. Woah – doesn’t sound like such a big number anymore, does it? That’s right, only about 5% difference.
So what made the difference? Is there actually something about migraine disease itself that is shielding the women? Or is there a common factor that is both increasing migraine risk and decreasing breast cancer risk? Is medication a factor?
The authors of the study didn’t see any relationship between the decreased risk and a history of taking prescription medication for migraine. However, that doesn’t rule out the possibility that other medications may be making a difference, such as NSAIDs like ibuprofen.
The usual suspect for women with migraine is hormonal factors. Could levels of estrogen, for example, make a difference? Or the changes in hormonal flow in general?
Of course, there are many other complex biological factors that come into play with migraine. In other words, we’re a long way from knowing why this difference is here.
The fact of the matter is, there are many reasons why this would be the case. Considering the hormonal differences alone, this study shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, if lower estrogen levels mean a higher risk of migraine, and a lower risk of breast cancer — isn’t it obvious that more migraine attacks and less breast cancer diagnosis would go together? You mean, this is news?!
Well, maybe you can take just a little comfort that, if you have migraine, you may have a slightly lower risk of breast cancer. But seriously, this is not worth the garish headlines.
The study was published last week in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. Read more in this article Women With Migraines Have Lower Risk for Breast Cancer.