More Research On Women Migraineurs, Heart Attacks and Stroke
A happy thought for a Monday, I’m sure. But if you are a woman with migraines, you can’t take your heart health for granted. You will be more prone to having heart attacks and strokes than women who don’t have migraines. Yet more proof that life is not fair.
But why do women migraineurs have more strokes and heart attacks? New research from America may find that the culprit is a gene varaint called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) D/I polymorphism. (Can’t exactly make a greeting card poem out of that one, can you?) It might not even be that particular variant, but another variation that is often found in women containing the aforementioned gene variant.
Damn, I need an Excedrin. And I really wish I had paid attention more in science class.
Study Specs
This research was a follow up to this study published in Neurology in July 2008. The study consisted of a questionnaire sent to 25,000 white women (why only white women, I have no idea). All of these women were tested to see if they had the gene variant with the really long name.
Of that 25,000, only 4,577 were migraineurs. Narrowing it down even further, 1,275 had migraine with aura and 625 had a heart attack or a stroke. There was an initial hypothesis that women that had migraines with aura were more prone to stokes and heart attacks than women that have migraines without aura, but that didn’t pan out.
Practical upshot: more research needs to be done.
In The Meantime
You know the drill — quit smoking, limit alcohol intake, eat a low-fat, varied diet, exercise regularly and work on non-chemical means of stress management — like not trying to understand these genetic research papers.
March 15th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
[...] pregnancies) really reconsider having a pregnancy. Althugh it’s been known for some time that women with migraines are more at risk of stroke than women without migraines, the time women migraineurs are at most risk of getting a stroke is [...]
November 21st, 2009 at 2:40 am
Thank you for posting this information. It will help a lot of people especially those who are at risk in heart attack. What are the other information or details that you can share with us, that can help us very much?
December 9th, 2009 at 3:56 am
I have looked at many sites on this subject and not come across a site such as yours which tells everyone everything that they need to know. I have bookmarked your site. Can anyone else suggest any other related topics that I can look for to find out further information?
December 9th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Cholesterol levels seem to play a big part in your heart health and your likelihood of having a heart attack or stoke so I like to keep my levels down to what my doctor recommends - I do cheat a bit sometimes and have the odd fast food treat. Can anyone else suggest any other related topics that I can look for to find out further information?