Untreated migraine may increase risk of pregnancy complications

Untreated migraine may increase the risk of pregnancy complications, finds a new study.

In a study of women in Denmark with and without migraine who became pregnant, migraine was associated with an increased risk of pregnancy-associated hypertension disorders in the mother. Also, in newborns, maternal migraine was associated with an increased risk of a variety of adverse outcomes, including low birth weight, preterm birth, cesarean delivery, respiratory distress syndrome, and febrile seizures. The study has appeared in the Journal Headache.

Prevalence of migraine is high during the reproductive age. Although migraine often improves during pregnancy, the risk of adverse pregnancy, birth, neonatal, and neurological outcomes in mother and offspring remains poorly understood.

The investigators conducted a study to investigate the associations between maternal migraine and risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes in the mother, and birth, neonatal and postnatal outcomes in the offspring.

The researchers used Danish population registries to assemble a cohort of pregnancies among women with migraine and age‐ and conception year‐matched comparison cohort of pregnancies among women without migraine

The study included 22,841 pregnancies among women with migraine (including 16,861 with a liveborn offspring) and 228,324 age- and conception-year matched pregnancies among women without migraine (including 170,334 with a liveborn offspring).

Treated migraine was not linked with higher risks of adverse outcomes compared with untreated migraine. This suggests that migraine itself, rather than its treatment, is associated with pregnancy complications.

The researchers concluded that Women with migraine and their offspring have greater risks of several adverse pregnancy outcomes than women without migraine.

"Migraine is a disabling condition, common among women of reproductive age. Accumulating evidence shows that migraine in pregnancy may lead to several adverse outcomes in the mother and child, but treatment may alleviate these risks," said lead author Nils Skajaa, Epidemiologist Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital.

For more details click on the link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/head.13536