According to a preliminary study, there is an association between migraines and complications in pregnancy such as gestational hypertension and preeclampsia. The researchers also found that women with migraines with auras may have a slightly higher risk of preeclampsia than women with migraines without auras.
Auras are sensations that precede a headache, often accompanied by visual disturbances such as flashing lights. Preeclampsia involves high blood pressure during pregnancy with additional symptoms such as protein in the urine, which can threaten the life of the mother and the baby.
Study author Alexandra Purdue-Smith, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said, “About 20% of women of childbearing age experience migraines, but the impact of migraines on pregnancy outcomes is not well understood. ” “Our large prospective study found links between migraines and pregnancy complications that may help inform doctors and women about the potential risks they should be aware of during pregnancy.”, Purdue further commented.
For the study, researchers looked at more than 30,000 pregnancies in nearly 19,000 women over 20 years. Of those pregnancies, 11% of the women reported that they had been diagnosed with migraine by a doctor prior to pregnancy. Researchers examined women’s complications during pregnancy such as preterm delivery, defined as a baby born before 37 weeks’ gestation, gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia and low birth weight.
After adjusting for age, obesity, and other behavioral and health factors that may influence the risk of complications, the researchers found that compared to women without migraines, women with migraines had a 17% higher risk of preterm delivery. , had a 28% higher risk. Gestational hypertension, and a 40% higher risk of preeclampsia.
Of the 3,881 pregnancies in women with migraine, 10% gave birth prematurely, compared to 8% in women without migraine. For gestational hypertension, 7% of pregnancies in women with migraine developed the condition, compared with 5% of pregnancies in women without migraine. For preeclampsia, 6% of pregnancies in women with migraines experienced it, compared to 3% of pregnancies in women who did not have migraines.
Furthermore, when looking at migraines with and without aura, women who had migraines with aura were 51% more likely to develop preeclampsia during pregnancy than women without migraines, compared to women who did not. They were 29% more likely to have had a migraine without an aura. The researchers found that migraine was not associated with gestational diabetes or low birth weight.
“While the risks of these complications are still quite low, women with a history of migraine should be aware of the potential risks of pregnancy and consult with their doctor,” Purdue-Smith said. More research is needed to determine why migraines may be associated with a higher risk of complications. In the meantime, women with migraines may benefit from close monitoring during pregnancy so that complications such as preeclampsia can be identified and managed as early as possible.
A limitation of the study was that although a history of migraine was reported before pregnancy, information on migraines later in the study was not collected after multiple pregnancies ended. So the findings for migraine aura may have been influenced by the participants’ ability to remember their experiences accurately. Another limitation is that information on migraine attack frequency and other migraine features was not available.
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Additional studies will be needed to address these limitations and better inform how pregnant women with a history of migraine should be screened and monitored for potential pregnancy complications. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.