(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Chronic migraines can be a difficult to live with,
but there may be at least one positive aspect of the condition: women who suffer
from migraines have a significantly lower risk of breast cancer.
A recent study shows female migraine sufferers have a 30 percent lower risk of
breast cancer compared to women who do not have a history of the headaches.
Specifically, migraines are linked to a reduced risk of the most common form of
breast cancer: tumors with estrogen and/or progesterone receptors on their
cells. The study involved 3,412 postmenopausal women in the Seattle area. Almost
2,000 of them had been diagnosed with breast cancer while the rest had no
history of the disease.
Although the link between breast cancer and migraines is not fully known,
researchers think it may have to do with fluctuating levels of circulating
hormones. “Migraines seem to have a hormonal component in that they occur more
frequently in women than in men, and some of their known triggers are associated
with hormones,” Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., a breast-cancer epidemiologist
at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash., was quoted as
saying.
Dr. Li says women who take oral contraceptives tend to suffer more migraines
during the week they are menstruating and not taking the hormone pills.
Conversely, a high-estrogen state like pregnancy is linked to a significant
decrease in migraines. “By the third trimester of pregnancy, 80 percent of
migraine sufferers do not have these episodes,” Dr. Li said.
SOURCE: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 2008;17,3116-3122
