The risk of experiencing migraines may decrease as cardiovascular risk scores increase, according to a recent study.

In the population-based cohort study, published in JAMA Network Open, investigators examined the association between cardiovascular risk scores, specifically the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation 2 (SCORE2), and migraine status among 140,915 Dutch adults. The findings revealed an inverse relationship between cardiovascular risk and migraine prevalence.

Among the participants, 18.4% (n = 25,915) of them reported prevalent migraines, while 1.9% (n = 2,224) of them experienced incident migraines. The odds ratios (OR) for prevalent migraine decreased from 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.90–0.96) in the SCORE2 category of 1.0% to < 2.5% to 0.43 (95% CI = 0.39–0.48) in those categorized as having a SCORE2 of at least 10.0%. For incident migraines, ORs similarly declined from 0.63 (95% CI = 0.57–0.69) for the lower SCORE2 category to 0.17 (95% CI = 0.10–0.27) in the highest category. These associations were more pronounced in female participants, indicating variation between sexes in the interaction between migraine and vascular health.

The results showed that active or developing migraine is associated with cardiovascular health measures, despite the established link between migraine and increased cardiovascular risk. This findings differed from previous U.S. research indicating that women with higher cardiovascular risk profiles were less likely to have active migraines. 

Full disclosures can be found in the published study.