NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – New research suggests that migraine is a risk factor for hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, including gestational hypertension and preeclampsia.

The findings, which appear in the March issue of Cephalalgia, also suggest a possible association between migraine and low birth weight infants.

Several studies have looked at the link between migraine and hypertension during pregnancy, but “due to their methodological weaknesses these studies have provided weak evidence of the association between migraine and onset of hypertension in pregnancy,” lead author Dr. Fabio Facchinetti, from the University of Modena, Italy, and colleagues note.

The current prospective study involved 702 normotensive women with singleton pregnancy who were seen at antenatal clinics in Northern Italy. The subjects were evaluated for migraine at 11 to 16 weeks’ gestation using International Headache Society criteria.

Overall, 38.5% of women had migraines, with 68.1% of them experiencing migraine without aura, the report shows.

Roughly 9% of migraineurs developed a hypertensive disorder compared with 3.1% of non-migraineurs, yielding an adjusted odds ratio of 2.85.

There was also a trend toward a higher rate of low birth weight infants in the migraine group (OR = 1.97).

“Women with migraine,” the researchers conclude, “are to be considered at increased risk of developing hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. The diagnosis of primary headaches should be taken into account at antenatal examination.”

Reference:
Cephalalgia 2009;29:286-292.