Study: Women who suffer from migraines may be more likely to develop dementia

As per a study published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, researchers found that older women with dementia were three times more likely to have suffered from migraines in their lifetime than those without dementia.

Migraines are powerful - almost to the point of splitting - throbbing headaches, accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light. They can affect anyone of any age. Globally, they affect at least one in seven people, and in India, at least 150 million people suffer from them. Dementia is an overarching condition characterized by declining memory, language, problem-solving and other cognitive skills; Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes problems with one's memory, cognition and behavior, often to the point of interfering with daily life.

One possible reason, researchers think, for the link between the two could be that migraine attacks may impede healthy lifestyles; for instance, the pain can prevent sufferers from being active, from being able to eat a healthy diet, from getting enough sleep, or from being able to exercise regularly. An unhealthy lifestyle is a known risk factor for dementia.

For the current study, researchers interviewed about 679 people with no history of cognitive issues - with their average age being about 76 years – about their experiences with migraines. More than half of the sample size were women. Participants were tracked for five years and researchers found that at least 51 women had developed dementia over that time. They also found those who developed Alzheimer's were more than four times more likely to have experienced migraine attacks in that time.

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