Sex-Specific Association of Cardiovascular Risk Factors With Migraine: The Population-Based Rotterdam Study

Although several lines of evidence suggest a link between migraine and cardiovascular events, less is known about the association between cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) and migraine. This knowledge is clinically important to provide directions on mitigating the cardiovascular risk in patients with migraine. We hypothesized that CVRFs are associated with a higher migraine prevalence. Therefore, our primary objective was to investigate sex-specific associations between CVRFs and lifetime prevalence of migraine.

We performed cross-sectional analyses within an ongoing population-based cohort study (Rotterdam Study), including middle-aged and elderly individuals. By means of (structured) interviews, physical examinations, and blood sampling, we obtained information on the lifetime prevalence of migraine and the following traditional CVRFs: current smoking, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Similarly, we obtained information on quantitative component data on these CVRFs, including pack-years of smoking, lipid levels, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), body mass index, and fasting glucose levels. Patients with migraine were age-matched to individuals without migraine, and we performed conditional logistic regression analyses to investigate the sex-stratified association of CVRFs with migraine.

In total, 7,266 community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly persons were included (median age 66.6 [IQR 56.4-74.8] years, 57.5% females). The lifetime prevalence of migraine was 14.9%. In females, current smoking (odds ratio (OR) 0.72, 95% CI 0.58-0.90), more pack-years (OR per SD increase 0.91, 95% CI 0.84-1.00), diabetes mellitus (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.56-0.98), and higher fasting glucose levels (OR per SD increase in glucose 0.90, 95% CI 0.82 - 0.98) were all related to a lower migraine prevalence while a higher diastolic BP related to a higher migraine prevalence (OR per SD increase 1.16, 95% CI 1.04-1.29). In males, no significant associations between CVRFs and migraine were observed.

Traditional CVRFs were either unrelated or inversely related to migraine in middle-aged and elderly individuals, but only in females. In males, we did not find any association between CVRFs and migraine. Because only an increased diastolic BP was related to a higher migraine prevalence in females, our study contributes to the hypothesis that migraine is not directly associated with traditional CVRFs. Future studies are warranted to extrapolate these findings to younger populations.