Migraine Patients have Lower Systolic but Higher Diastolic Blood Pressure Compared with Controls in a Population-Based Study of 21 537 Subjects. The Reykjavik Study

Abstract

Several studies have explored a possible association between migraine and hypertension, with contradictory results. Because of this uncertainty the relation between blood pressure (BP) and migraine was studied in 10,366 men and 11,171 women in a population-based longitudinal study. A modified version of the 1988 International Headache Society criteria was used for diagnosis of migraine. Logistic regression analysis was used. The crude 1-year prevalence of migraine was 5.2% among men and 14.1% among women. No significant association was found between hypertension and migraine. For a one standard deviation (SD) increase in diastolic BP the probability of having migraine increased 14% (P = 0.11) for men and 30% (P < 0.0001) for women. For a 1-SD increase in systolic BP the probability of having migraine decreased 19% (P = 0.007) for men and 25% (P < 0.0001) for women. It was also found that for a 1-SD increase in pulse pressure the probability of having migraine decreased 13% (P = 0.005) for men and 14% (P < 0.0001) for women. In a population-based study of men and women it was found that subjects with migraine had lower pulse pressure, lower systolic BP and higher diastolic BP compared with controls.

Vascular Risk Factors, Endothelial Function, and Carotid Thickness in Patients with Migraine: Relationship to Atherosclerosis

“…The relationship between blood pressure and headaches has always been controversial. 9,15,16 Scher et al 9 studied 5755 subjects from the Genetic Epidemiology of Migraine Study in The Netherlands and found higher SBP (.140 mm Hg) or DBP (.90 mm Hg) in migraineurs compared with those without migraine. In the population-based study done by Gudmundsson et al 15 in 10,366 men and 11,171 women, the authors found that migraineurs had higher DBP and lower SBP and pulse pressure compared with their matched control subjects.…”

Hypertension and Migraine in the Northern Manhattan Study

“…4 Studies assessing the association between migraine and hypertension, both diastolic and systolic, have yielded conflicting results. 5 One study found a positive association between headache and hypertension for both sexes independent of age. 6 In a clinicbased study, hypertension was more common in the headache group than in the general population; after adjusting for age and sex, positive associations were found for tension-type headache and chronic tension-type headache, but less so for migraine.…”

Autonomic nervous system properties in migraine patients and nonmedication treatment in headache free period

“…The observed significant increase in sBP and unchanged dBP variables might be related with inhibition of PNS activity in M2 group patients. However, in some studies an opposite effect was found, such as, decreased sBP (Gudmundsson et al, 2006) and increased dBP (Shechter et al, 2002) at rest. These discrepancies may be associated with different ANS activity properties of migraine patients.…”