High Blood Pressure Reduces Migraines

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research reveals people who have high blood pressure appear to be less likely to have migraines than those with healthy blood pressure.

The researchers tested the systolic, diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure rates of more than 50,000 men and women. Those with higher systolic blood pressure (the top number) were 40 percent less likely to have a headache or migraine.

“Higher pulse was linked to up to a 50 percent reduction in the amount of headache and migraine for both men and women,” study author Erling Tronvik, M.D. of the Norwegian National Headache Center in Trondheim, Norway, was quoted as saying. “The finding was not as strong, however, for people who were taking blood pressure medication, which are sometimes used to treat migraines.”

According to Tronvik, high systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure are related to stiff arteries, which affect something called the baroreflex arch. “When it’s affected,” Dr. Tronvik says, “it can cause hypoalgesia, a condition that makes a person less sensitive to pain.”

He went on to note these findings confirm previous studies that show increasing blood pressure is linked to decreasing amounts of pain in all parts of the body.

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SOURCE: Neurology, 2008;70:1329