Increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke in patients with migraine: a population-based cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
Previous studies on the association between migraine and the risk of developing hemorrhagic stroke (HS) have generated inconsistent results. The aim of the present population-based, age- and sex- matched follow-up study was to investigate whether migraine is associated with an increased risk of HS.


METHODS
A total of 20925 persons with at least two ambulatory visits in 2001 with the principal diagnosis of migraine were enrolled in the migraine group. The non-migraine group consisted of 104625, age- and sex- matched, randomly sampled subjects without migraine. The two-year HS-free survival rates for these 2 groups were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the effect of migraine on the occurrence of HS.


RESULTS
During the 2 year follow-up, 113 subjects in the migraine group (0.54%) and 255 in the non-migraine group (0.24%) developed HS. The crude hazard ratio (HR) for developing HS in the migraine group was 2.22 compared to the non-migraine group (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.78-2.77, p<0.0001) and the adjusted HR was 2.13 (95% CI: 1.71-2.67, p<0.0001) after controlling for demographic characteristics and comorbid medical disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
This population-based age- and sex- matched cohort study shows that migraine was linked to an increased risk of HS.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Cheng-Ya
CY
Kuo
Ming-Fang
MF
Yen
Li-Sheng
LS
Chen
Ching-Yuan
CY
Fann
Yueh-Hsia
YH
Chiu
Hsiu-Hsi
HH
Chen
Shin-Liang
SL
Pan
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012306:Risk; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*