Survey study, 2008
How common is menstrual migraine, and does pregnancy affect it?
Menstrual migraine is common among women with migraines, affecting 18% when counting only those with migraine exclusively during their period. In women who became pregnant, migraine usually improved.
What they did
Researchers studied 289 women attending a headache clinic to find out how often menstrual migraine happens and how pregnancy affects it. They examined 145 of these women who had given birth.
What they found
Among the 289 women: 18.0% had migraine exclusively around their period (2 days before menstruation), 25.3% always had migraine related to their period but also at other times, 32.9% sometimes had migraine related to their period, and 41.9% reported no connection between migraine and their period. Among the 145 women who had given birth: 66.2% had migraine that improved or disappeared during pregnancy, 9.66% had migraine that worsened, 9.66% experienced migraine for the first time during pregnancy, and 14.48% had no change.
What it means for you
Menstrual migraine is experienced by many women with migraine. If you have menstrual migraine, pregnancy might help, but it could also make it worse or cause it to start for the first time. The main limit is this included only women who visited a headache clinic, so results might not apply to all women with migraine.
18.0%
had migraine exclusively during their period
66.2%
had improvement or disappearance of migraine in pregnancy
145
women who had given birth
About the study
- Original title
- [Migraine and the influence of hormones]
- Authors
- Vuković V, Plavec D, Lovrencić-Huzjan A et al.
- Journal
- Acta medica Croatica : casopis Hravatske akademije medicinskih znanosti
- Year
- 2008
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 289
- What was tested
- None; this is an observational study tracking what naturally happens
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18710077/
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