Epidemiological association between migraine and lipoprotein(a): a systematic review.

Migraine is a relatively frequent and disabling condition, which poses a large clinical and economical burden on human society. Since there is now emerging evidence that the risk of cardiovascular diseases may be significantly increased in patients with migraine, and that lipoprotein(a) is a powerful, independent cardiovascular risk factor, we performed an electronic searched on Medline, Scopus and Web of Science using the keywords "migraine" and "lipoprotein(a)" or "apolipoprotein(a)" or "Lp(a)" or "apo(a)", with no language or date restriction. The electronic search produced four cross-sectional studies which reported original data about the epidemiological association between lipoprotein(a) and migraine, and used standardized criteria for diagnosing migraine. In only one out of the four studies the concentration of lipoprotein(a) was found to be higher in migraineurs than in controls, whereas in the remaining three investigations lipoprotein(a) levels were found to be virtually identical between cases and controls. This analysis suggests that if any epidemiological and clinical link exists between migraine and cardiovascular disease, a direct involvement of lipoprotein(a) seems unlikely according to the available epidemiological evidence.