Background Whether blood pressure (BP) per secorrelateswith headache frequencyinmigraineis uncertain.
Methods Newly diagnosed migrainepatients withoutanti-hypertensive or migraine preventive treatmentwere prospectively enrolled.Standardized BPmeasurementwas doneat each visit. Patientswere dichotomized bythe overall arithmetic mean of baseline systolic BPs (SBPs).Correlationsbetween baseline SBPs and monthly headache days (MHDs),based on prospective headache diaries,weredetermined.Participants were treated as usualfor 3 months. The associationsbetweenchanges (Δ) inBP andin MHDat 3 monthswere examined.
Results In total, 441 (344F/97M, mean age 39.1±10.3 years) migraine patients were analyzed, including 197 (44.7%) with above-average SBPs, i.e. ≥120.1 mmHg. There were significant correlations between SBPs and MHDs at baseline (Spearman’s rho=0.181, p=0.012) and between ΔSBPs and ΔMHDs at3months (Spearman’s rho=0.257, p<0.001) in patients with above-average SBPs. In addition, a≥50% MHD improvement increased the odds for5-mmHgSBP reductionsat 3 months(odds ratio=1.70, 95% confidence interval=1.05-2.76, p=0.032).
Conclusions SBP was associated with headache frequency in migraine patients and the association was stronger in those with higher SBP. The improvement in headache frequency paralleled that in SBP, although the underlying mechanisms remain to be determined.