Common ailment suffered by millions makes you 70% more likely to suffer deadly stroke, scientists discover

Millions of young adults suffering from migraines could be at increased risk of a potentially deadly stroke, a study has suggested.

Finnish researchers analysed health data from more than 1,000 adults under 50 and found those suffering from the painful headaches had a 70 per cent increased chance of an attack.

Migraines, which affect about 10 million people in the UK, are not considered a traditional risk factor for the medical emergency. 

The authors have now called for medics to ask patients about their migraine history. 

This new research follows a mysterious rise in strokes in the under-50s in recent years.

Strokes among men aged under 39 have jumped by nearly a quarter over the last two decades — a trend that has left scientists baffled.

In the new study, researchers examined potential risk factors for ischemic strokes, those that occur when a blockage cuts off the blood supply to the brain, in young people.

The scientists, from the University Hospital in Helsinki, were particularly interested in strokes with no known obvious medical cause like high blood pressure. 

To do this, they took 523 stroke survivors and matched them to 523 healthy counterparts.

They compared traditional risk factors for stroke, like high blood pressure, and ‘non-traditional’ ones like migraines. 

The scientists found each non-traditional risk factor was linked to a 70 per cent increased risk of stroke. 

In contrast, known risk factors only increased the risk of the medical emergency by 41 per cent.

While the increase sounds large, the base risk of a person suffering a stroke in the first place is quite low.  

Researchers calculated migraines with aura — when the head pain comes with visual disturbances — were present in about 23 per cent of people who suffered a stroke.

However, this rose to 46 per cent among a subset of patients with a common heart condition called patent foramen ovale, which is where a hole forms between the upper chambers of the heart. 

This hole is present in all babies as they develop in the womb. 

While it normally closes shortly after birth, this doesn’t happen in about one in four people.

The hole is considered generally harmless but patients with the condition are known to be at slightly higher risk of strokes. 

Lead author of the study, stroke specialist Dr Jukka Putaala, said the strength of the results linking migraines and strokes were surprising. 

‘We were surprised by the role of non-traditional risk factors, especially migraine headaches, which seems to be one of the leading risk factors in the development of strokes in younger adults,’ he said. 

Overall the study found that for adults without the heart condition, traditional stroke risk factors like high blood pressure still accounted for the majority (65 per cent) of strokes.

Non-traditional risk factors accounted for about one in four strokes.   

The authors acknowledged the study’s  limitations, including that it was observational, meaning it cannot directly prove a factor like migraines was responsible for a stroke.

Data used in the research, published in the journal Stroke, was also self-reported by patients rather than independently verified, which could influence the findings. 

Earlier this year, a MailOnline analysis of NHS data revealed strokes among men aged under 39 have jumped by nearly a quarter over the last two decades.

By comparison, life-threatening attacks in women of the same age have risen by just 1 per cent.

Around 100,000 people in the UK have a stroke each year, with many who survive left with disabilities as a result. 

British charity The Stroke Association estimates the health and care costs of treating strokes in the UK is £4.38billion per year. 

Symptoms of a stroke include facial weakness, where one side of face droops, arm weakness where a person cannot fully lift both arms and speech problems like slurring word of sounding confused.