Arterial hypertension in migraine: Role of familial history and cardiovascular phenotype.

Recent studies indicate that migraine is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. However, links between autonomic cardiovascular regulation, arterial hypertension (AH) and migraine are still little explored. In this study, we evaluated autonomic regulation in migraine patients with and without hypertension. We studied 104 patients with migraine, aged 34±10 y, including 28 with and 76 without hypertension (M+AH and M-AH groups, respectively). The control group consisted of 88 healthy volunteers matched by age and sex. The autonomic regulation of circulation was examined with the tilt-table test, deep-breathing and Valsalva Maneuver, handgrip test, cold-stress induced vasoconstriction, arterial baroreflex, and blood pressure variability measurements. We found that migraine patients with concomitant hypertension demonstrated reduced arterial baroreflex, whereas other parameters of cardiac autonomic regulation were unchanged. In contrast, most indicators of vasomotor reactivity (blood pressure response to the hand-grip, Valsalva maneuver and cold vasoconstriction) were enhanced in migraine patients with no significant differences between migraine patients with and without hypertension. Patients from both M+AH and M-AH groups more commonly had a family history of cardiovascular disorders. Our data revealed increased vasomotor reactivity in migraine patients, with or without concomitant hypertension. This was associated with the family history of cardiovascular diseases.