Migraineurs and retina disease

Dr. Kathryn Rose of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her team came out with a report last week about migraineurs and retina disease, specifically retinopathy.  The short story is that migraine sufferers have an increased risk of the disease.

According the the Mayo Clinic, retinopathy is refers to damage to the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish the retina, the tissue at the back of your eye that captures light and relays information to your brain.  It’s a common in diabetes patients, but has a much wider scope, being a common cause of blindness.

Actually, the study found that those with a history of migraine or headaches were between 1.3 and 1.5 times more likely to have retinopathy.  If you removed patients who had diabetes or hypertension, the likelihood increased among those with migraine or headaches with visual disturbances.

My first thought was that this relates to the strain on the blood vessels often caused by migraine, and the leaking and inflammation that occurs.  Does this eventually lead to the damage of the retina?  Dr Rose doesn’t think so.

“What I think this suggests is that there’s probably the same problem that underlies both retinopathy and the headaches where there’s some dysfunction or problems in the small blood vessels in the retina and the brain”, said Dr Rose in a telephone interview.

So it’s another arrow pointing to the underlying causes of migraine.  More reasons to visit your optometrist and have that checkup you’ve been putting off…

News release from the university – History of migraines associated with increased risk of retinopathy