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Headache and cardiovascular risk factors: positive association with hypertension
M Cirillo1, D Stellato, C Lombardi
1Schools of Medicine, Chair of Nephrology, Department of Pediatrics, Second University of Naples, Italy.
Insights
Patients with severe headache show a higher prevalence of hypertension compared to the general population. This association between headache and hypertension is significant, independent of other cardiovascular risk factors.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Cardiology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Cardiovascular risk factors are prevalent in patients experiencing severe headaches.
- Understanding the relationship between headache and cardiovascular health is crucial for patient management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in a cohort of patients with severe headache.
- To investigate the association between headache characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors, controlling for demographic variables.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study analyzing 1343 patients (399 men, 944 women) aged 15-64 with severe headache.
- Prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and cigarette smoking was assessed.
- Analyses were controlled for sex, age, headache type, and frequency, with comparison to a population control group.
Main Results:
- Patients with headache exhibited a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (OR 1.51) compared to controls, independent of age.
- Age was directly related to hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity in patients with headache.
- Headache was significantly associated with hypertension but not other tested cardiovascular risk factors.
Conclusions:
- Severe headache is a significant independent risk factor for hypertension.
- The elevated hypertension prevalence in headache patients is not solely explained by overweight or other common cardiovascular risk factors.
- Further research into the underlying mechanisms connecting headache and hypertension is warranted.
Abstract:
The study analyzes the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in 1343 patients with severe headache (399 men and 944 women), aged 15 to 64 years; analyses were controlled for sex, age, and type and frequency of headache. Prevalence of various forms of headache was different between men and women. Age and days per year with headache were significantly different among various forms of headache. For men and women with headache, age directly related to prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity. Due to low prevalence, analyses by age were not done for diabetes mellitus. For cigarette smoking, prevalence was not related to age in men, but was inversely related to age in women. With control for age, prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was not significantly different among patients with different forms of headache, except for cluster headache. Among men with cluster headache, prevalence was high for cigarette smoking, but low for hypercholesterolemia. With control for age, days per year with headache did not relate to prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors except for cigarette smoking in men. Compared to data for a population sample used as control, patients with headache had higher prevalence of hypertension in both sexes, independent of age (odds ratio 1.51, 95% confidence interval 1.28 to 1.80); the difference between patients with headache and the control population was lower with increasing age. The high prevalence of hypertension among patients with headache was not due to overweight. The data indicate that headache is significantly associated with hypertension, but not with other cardiovascular risk factors.