Abstract Details

Prior studies report increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease among individuals with migraine. However, evidence on the association between migraine and risk of VTE is mixed. Genetic analyses have suggested etiologic relationships of hemostasis factors on migraine, highlighting the need to better understand if migraine is a risk factor for VTE.

To estimate the effect of migraine on the risk of incident venous thromboembolism (VTE) among middle-aged and older women.

The study population included 27,086 women enrolled in the Women’s Health Study who, at baseline, provided a blood sample and did not have a history of VTE or missing migraine information. Women were classified as having active migraine with aura, active migraine without aura, past history of migraine, or no history of migraine. Self-reported new diagnoses of VTE were confirmed by medical record review and classified as provoked or unprovoked. Cox proportional hazards models evaluated associations between migraine status and incident VTE.

During a mean follow-up of 21.0 years, there were 731 incident VTE events (including 299 unprovoked events). Compared to those with no history of migraine, women who reported active migraine at baseline had an increased risk of VTE, adjusting for age, randomized treatment assignment to aspirin and/or vitamin E, and body mass index (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.30, 95% confidence interval: 1.09-1.55). This association was similar regardless of aura status (migraine with aura: HR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.03-1.74; migraine without aura: HR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.02-1.59). In contrast, those with past history of migraine did not have an increased risk of VTE (HR=0.95, 95% CI: 0.72-1.25). Findings were similar for unprovoked VTE and after adjustment for confounding.