Researchers find link between high diastolic blood pressure and migraines in women

BOSTON - Some women with high blood pressure may be at higher risk of migraine.

Migraine sufferers are at higher risk of strokes and heart attacks, but does having risk factors for cardiovascular disease increase the risk of developing migraines?

In a new study, researchers in the Netherlands found that women with higher diastolic blood pressure, the lower number in a blood pressure reading, were 16% more likely to have migraines than women with normal diastolic blood pressure.

The same association was not observed in men, and in this study, other cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, and diabetes were not linked to migraines.

Most experts agree, more research is needed in this area. 

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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