Migraine Identified as Possible Risk Factor for Silent Stroke

Patients with a history of migraines may be more likely to experience silent brain injury, the results of a recent study suggest. The study, published online on May 15, 2014, in Stroke, analyzed imaging and migraine data for 546 patients from the Northern Manhattan Study, looking for associations between migraine and subclinical brain infarction. The results indicated that patients who reported having migraines were twice as likely to experience subclinical brain infarction when compared with those without migraines. The researchers of the study suggest that migraine patients with vascular risk factors should make lifestyle changes in order to reduce their risk for stroke.

The researchers pointed out (1) that this study was not designed to prove that migraines cause stroke and (2) that more studies are needed to confirm their findings.