• Claudio Tana, Emmanuele Tafuri, Marco Tana, Paolo Martelletti, Andrea Negro, Giannapia Affaitati, Alessandra Fabrizio, Raffaele Costantini, Andrea Mezzetti, and Maria Adele Giamberardino.
• Department of Medicine, "G, D'Annunzio" University of Chieti, and Center of Excellence on Aging, "G, D'Annunzio" University Foundation, Chieti, Italy.
• J Headache Pain. 2013 Jan 1;14:9.

AbstractThe role of migraine as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events has been debated for several years, while it is more established for ischemic stroke. Recently, new studies have examined the likelihood of migraine to determine cardiovascular events, supporting the hypothesis of a predominant role in patients with migraine with aura, the risk including both sexes. In the literature, multiple pathophysiological mechanisms are described to explain this association, and are here discussed. Furthermore, the emerging evidence that a higher headache frequency and long-term migraine may worsen the cardio-metabolic profile in migraineurs (e.g. with a higher Framingham risk score and risk of developing atherosclerosis, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome) makes it increasingly necessary to reduce the number and severity of attacks, not only to alleviate the painful symptoms, but also to improve the prognosis in these patients.

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