Increased Risk of Pre-Eclampsia (PE) Among Women with the History of Migraine

Abstract

The Objective of this study was to assess possible association of history of migraine with pre-eclampsia (PE). This was a retrospective study to compare history of migraine in 90 women affected by PE with 90 women without PE as the control group. They recruited by a nonrandomized consecutive sampling method. Data were collected by a questionnaire including demographic, medical, obstetrics, and migraine assessment sections. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results showed an increased risk of PE in women with history of migraine (odds ratio: 2.87; p < 0.05). Result demonstrated that migraine history in the case group is 14/4% and in control group is 5/6%. Gestational age (GA) at delivery and weight of neonate (WN) were significantly lower compared to control (GA: 37.3 ± 2.6 vs. 38.7± 1.3 weeks T test; P < 0.01) (WN: 2930 ± 690 vs. 3330 ± 420; T test; P < 0.0). Cesarean section was more frequent in the PE group compared to the control group [37 (42%) vs. 14 (15.6%)]; chi square; p < 0.01]. The association of migraine with PE is the result of some similar mechanism leading to endothelial dysfunction. Frequent reports of an association between migraine and PE in different populations suggest a history of migraine as a risk factor for PE/gestational hypertension (GH).

Keywords:

• migraine
• pre-eclampsia
• pregnancy

Acknowledgments

We are thankful for the financial assistance of the deputy of research of Shahid Beheshti Medical Science University, as well as the Kashan Medical Science University in the support of this study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.