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[Migraine and stroke]
1Neurologisk avdeling, Regionsykehuset i Tromsø.
When young patients suffer a stroke the etiology often differs from that found in the elderly. One of the risk factors for stroke in young people could possibly be migraine. The first author to describe what was probably a migrainous cerebral infarction was Wepfer, in 1727. In recent years, cases of stroke in migraineurs have been frequently reported. Extensive cohort studies and smaller, well-conducted case-control studies seem to confirm that migraine is a risk factor for stroke. However, the risk is only moderately increased, perhaps doubled. Among women under the age of 45, the correlation is greater with a threefold increased risk of stroke in a migraineur; it is even greater in patients suffering attacks of migraine with aura. Pure migrainous infarctions are probably rare and reports are perhaps exaggerated in the literature. Cerebral ischaemia may lead to symptomatic migraine attacks. Overall, the absolute risk of stroke is small enough to validate the opinion that migraine is a benign condition.
When young patients suffer a stroke the etiology often differs from that found in the elderly. One of the risk factors for stroke in young people could possibly be migraine. The first author to describe what was probably a migrainous cerebral infarction was Wepfer, in 1727. In recent years, cases of stroke in migraineurs have been frequently reported. Extensive cohort studies and smaller, well-conducted case-control studies seem to confirm that migraine is a risk factor for stroke. However, the risk is only moderately increased, perhaps doubled. Among women under the age of 45, the correlation is greater with a threefold increased risk of stroke in a migraineur; it is even greater in patients suffering attacks of migraine with aura. Pure migrainous infarctions are probably rare and reports are perhaps exaggerated in the literature. Cerebral ischaemia may lead to symptomatic migraine attacks. Overall, the absolute risk of stroke is small enough to validate the opinion that migraine is a benign condition.