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

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).