Arterial stiffness poses no increased migraine risk

There appears to be no association between aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), a measure of vascular stiffness, and migraine, as reported in a recent study.

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 4,649 participants from the Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). The majority of the population (71 percent) had no migraine, 19 percent had migraine without aura (MO), and 10 percent had migraine with aura (MA). Probable migraine corresponds to 72.5 percent of MO and 62.5 percent of MA.

Compared with participants who had no migraine, those who did have the condition were younger, less active in their leisure time, had lower waist circumference, reduced glucose and triglycerides levels, and lower blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) levels. Additionally, fewer migraineurs had hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

Standard carotid femoral PWV (PWV-cf) was 8.67 m/s in the no-migraine group, 8.11 m/s in the MO group and 8.01 m/s in the MA group. Unadjusted PWV-cf values significantly differed among the groups (p<0.001). However, this difference disappeared after controlling for mean arterial pressure: PWV-cf in NM vs MA (p=0.525) and vs MO (p=0.121).

Fully adjusted models also yielded nonsignificant coefficients for MO and MA: β, –0.079 and –0.162, respectively.

The present data should be evaluated prospectively in order to clarify the association of migraine with vascular risk, the researchers said.