Millions of people suffer from near-constant migraines that can be so debilitating they’re forced to call out of work and cancel plans.
And while the neurological condition can be serious enough on its own, it could also be a sign of a dangerous health condition people may be unaware they have.
Researchers in the Netherlands found that migraines in women, but not men, were associated with high blood pressure, with people who have hypertension at least 16 percent more likely to also suffer from migraines.
The team suggested that migraines and blood pressure could be linked because high blood pressure can reduce the blood flow in small blood vessels.
This can reduce the oxygen supply to brain cells and trigger a migraine attack.
Hypertension, suffered by 120million Americans, has also been linked to a myriad of other health conditions, including stroke and heart attack because the higher pressure can raise the risk of blood clots in the brain and damage blood vessels.
Having high blood pressure can raise the risk of a migraine, according to a study (stock)
More than 39million Americans suffer from migraines every year, which can be treated using medications and lifestyle changes to avoid potential triggers.
It isn’t clear what causes them — severe headaches with painful throbbing or pulsating — but high blood pressure is a major theory.
The researchers said their results did not show that all people with high blood pressure get migraines, only that this may be a possible driver of the condition.
And while the team did not recommend people with migraine regularly check their blood pressure, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends checking it at least once a year for those over 40 years old.
For the study, published in the journal Neurology, researchers analyzed data on 7,266 people who were on average 67 years old.
Of these, 15 percent said they had previously experienced a migraine.
All the participants completed a physical exam, blood test and filled out a questionnaire on the frequency of their migraines.
After adjusting for risk factors such as physical activity and education level, the researchers found female participants with higher diastolic blood pressure were more likely to also have migraines.
Diastolic blood pressure is the bottom of the numbers between the two readings and represents the pressure in the arteries between heart beats.
The systolic blood pressure, on the other hand, is the top number and represents the pressure in the arteries during beats.
A healthy blood pressure for most adults is about 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg).
The researchers did not find a similar migraine-hypertension link among men, but they said this could be because few were included in the study.
Dr Antoinette Maassen van den Brink, a pharmacologist at Erasmus MC who led the research, said: ‘Previous research shows that migraine is linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart disease and heart attack, but less is known about how risk factors for cardiovascular events relate to having migraine.
‘Our study looked at well-known risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as diabetes, smoking, obesity and high cholesterol and found an increased odds of having migraine only in female participants with higher diastolic blood pressure.’
The team also looked at how smoking and diabetes could be linked to migraines.
Researchers found that smokers had a 28 percent lower risk of a migraine, and diabetics had a 26 percent lower risk.
Dr Maassen said: ‘These results should be interpreted with caution, as they do not prove that smoking cause a lower risk of migraine.
‘Instead, smoking might trigger migraine attacks and, therefore, people who choose to smoke are less likely to be people who have a migraine.’
Previous research has suggested that the nicotine in cigarettes can have an analgesic, or pain-reducing, effect — lowering the risk of a migraine, while diabetics may be on blood pressure lowering meds — also reducing the risk.
Both conditions, however, restrict small blood vessels from dilating, or enlarging, reducing blood flow and raising the risk of migraines.
