Migraine and blood clots? New study…

The connection between migraine disease and cardiovascular disease is getting even more attention after the results of a new study from Austrian and Italian researchers.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen evidence that people with migraine are at increased risk of things like heart attack and stroke.  We’re still a long way from understanding how exactly that connection works.

This new study checked for the risk of atherosclerosis, a disease of the arterial blood vessels.  Atherosclerosis has been connected to venous thrombosis, a blood clot in the vein that is usually not serious but can be in certain circumstances.  For example, clots going to the lungs can be fatal if left untreated.

The study involved 574 subjects from age 55 to 94, who were followed for 15 years.  Almost 20% had migraine, a little over 6% had migraine with aura.

Interestingly, the result did not show that migraineurs were at higher risk of atherosclerosis.  However, while 7.6% of those without migraine had venous thromboembolism, 18.9% of migraine patients did! (read study here)

How can that be?  Well, the theory is that something different is causing the clots than atherosclerosis.  Atherosclerosis causes a build-up in the arteries.  Instead, it may be that the blood in the body of a migraineur clots more easily.

Though we’re still not sure why this may be happening, this is one more step to understanding how migraine changes what’s going on in your body.  And yet another reminder that migraine is a serious disease, not to be ignored.