Migraine after surgery, associated with an increased risk of stroke

Medical Adina Camarasu
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Migraine after surgeries could cause patients an increased risk of having a stroke (CVA), according to a study published on Tuesday by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Analyzing the record files of 124,000 patients who underwent surgery in three hospitals in the United States between 2007 and 2014, researchers found that the risk of having a stroke within 30 days from the intervention rose to 4,3 of the cases per 1,000 operated patients suffering from migraines.

The people that were most likely to develop this risk were the ones suffering from ‘migraine with aura’ – headaches associated with visual, sensitivity and speech disturbances. The rate of stroke was 6,3 per 1,000 operated patients, compared to 3,9 in patients with a classic migraine.

Migraine is a recurrent headache, usually unilateral and throbbing. It affects about 15% of adults, with a strong predominance of females. Migraine with aura affects 20 to 30% of the cases.

Stroke is a major cause of death or severe disability. It causes each year more than 6 million deaths worldwide.

Migraine is one of the risk factors for ischemic stroke (caused by a clot and by far the most frequent), but no study has yet assessed its role during surgery.

According to the study led by Matthias Eikermann, at Harvard Medical School, the risk of stroke in migraine sufferers has been set taking into account the age, sex and preexisting cardiovascular diseases, which are also risk factors for cerebral stroke.

For Eikermann, given the number of people suffering from migraines, it is important that physicians be aware of the increased risk in the perioperative stage, especially in patients without traditional risk factors for stroke – age and family history – nor modifiable factors such as hypertension, smoking, high cholesterol or diabetes.

‘Our study results are adding to the previous evidence to say that migraine, particularly migraine with aura, should be considered as a marker of increased risk of ischemic stroke’, stated the authors of the study.