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Dr Odile Bagot (Gynecologist-obstetrician)
Medical validation:
February 13, 2023
According to a new study, migraine is linked to an increased risk of complications during pregnancy: preeclampsia, gestational hypertension and premature delivery.
According to Inserm, about 15% of French people are migraine sufferers, with a female predominance. The problem ? In addition to the obvious inconvenience caused by this violent headache, pregnant women with migraine are more at risk of complications.
A risk of premature delivery of 17%
The study, conducted by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and published in the journal Neurologyhighlights the link between this migraine state and complications during pregnancy.
For this, the researchers analyzed data from thousands of women from the Nurses Health Study II – a large prospective survey of nurses’ health, which included 30,555 pregnancies from 19,694 American nurses.
They examined the type of migraines of the candidates (migraine with and without aura) and their impact on pregnancies.
Result ? Researchers found that the onset of migraines before pregnancy was associated with a 17% risk of preterm birth, a 28% rate of gestational hypertension, and a 40% rate of preeclampsia compared to pre-pregnancy. lack of migraine.
Another interesting point: migraine with aura – that is to say accompanied by visual, sensory, language and/or speech disorders – seems to be associated with a slightly higher risk of preeclampsia than migraine without aura.
“Our results suggest that a history of migraine warrants consideration as an important risk factor for these complications and may be useful in flagging women who may benefit from increased monitoring during pregnancy..”
On the other hand, the headache would not be associated with low birth weight or gestational diabetes mellitus, specify the researchers.
Premature birth: aspirin, an effective treatment?
While the study sheds light on the migraine-pregnancy link, it also highlights the benefits of low-dose aspirin in women with migraine at high and moderate risk of preeclampsia – a disease linked to pregnancy which can endanger the life of the mother and the fetus.
Another finding of the study: the candidates for migraine who regularly took aspirin before pregnancy (more than twice a week) presented a lower risk of premature delivery (- 45%).
A therapeutic track “to follow”, according to Dr. Odile Bagot.
“This is an interesting and relevant study that confirms the obvious link between migraine and pregnancy. Being a migraine sufferer is indeed a vascular risk factor. However, here, we can see that pregnant migraineurs see their risk of preeclampsia increase, a pathology characterized by an increase in blood pressure. So there is a real logic“, says the expert.
Regarding aspirin, in low doses, “it is therefore absolutely recommended to prevent premature deliveries.”
Nevertheless, given the observational results of the study and the lack of information on the dosage of aspirin, further research is needed to verify its benefits.