This summer is expected to break heat records in the U.S., and that could mean misery for migraine sufferers.
Researchers at a conference currently underway in San Diego, Calif., revealed a new study that links rising temperatures to migraine attacks, according to a press release from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, “migraine is a type of headache characterized by recurrent attacks of moderate to severe throbbing and pulsating pain on one side of the head,” and they can range from occasional episodes to a nearly constant condition called status migrainosus.
As of 2021, 4.3% of adults age 18 and older reported being bothered a lot by headache or migraine in the past 3 months, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A study published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain last month found that migraine-related disability has increased over the past three decades.
“The pain is caused by the activation of nerve fibers within the wall of brain blood vessels traveling inside the meninges (three layers of membranes protecting the brain and spinal cord),” said the institute. Symptoms often include increased sensitivity to light, noise, and odors, nausea and vomiting.
Some people experience abdominal migraines that do not include headaches, and there are a wide range of potential migraine triggers.
“Weather change is one of the most common trigger factors for migraine,” says Vincent Martin, director of the Headache and Facial Pain Center at UC’s Gardner Neuroscience Institute and UC Health physician, president of the National Headache Foundation, and lead study author.
Al Peterlin, a retired as chief meteorologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and co-author of the study added that: “Hippocrates, the father of medicine, believed that weather and medicine were intimately linked.”
To examine the relationship between hotter weather and migraines, the researchers cross-referenced 71,030 daily diary records of 660 migraine patients with regional weather data. Through this method, they found that for every temperature increase of 10 degrees Fahrenheit daily, there was a 6% increase in occurrence of any headache.
“As temperatures rise, so do chances for migraine attacks,” said the university. According to climate.gov, the Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit every decade since 1850. Since 1982, the rate of warming has become three times as fast.
“What we found was that increases in temperature were a significant factor in migraine occurrence across all regions of the United States,” explained Martin, also a professor within UC’s College of Medicine. “It’s pretty amazing because you think of all the varying weather patterns that occur across the entire country that we’re able to find one that is so significant.”
In addition to researchers from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, scientists from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Errex Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA. Inc. participated in the recent study.
They presented the findings at the American Headache Society’s 66th Annual Scientific Meeting, held from this Thursday through Sunday.
“During the time periods of Fremanezumab treatment the association completely disappeared,” said the press release about the migraines data included in the study.
Fremanezumab is a monoclonal antibody medication injected under the skin. These medications block calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a protein responsible for the transmission of pain in the brain and nervous system. Sold under the name Ajovy, fremanezumab is associated with some side effects listed here by the Mayo Clinic.
“This study is the first to suggest that migraine specific therapies that block CGRP may treat weather associated headaches,” said Fred Cohen, a study co-author and assistant professor of medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, N.Y. Martin said that if the results are confirmed in future studies, the medication could help people with migraines triggered by weather.