Migraine with aura linked to clot-caused strokes

Be careful out there.
http://www.mdlinx.com/internal-medicine/top-medical-news/article/2016/02/23/4

People who have migraines with aura are more likely to have strokes caused by either a blood clot in the heart (cardio–embolic stroke) or a clot within the brain’s blood vessels (thrombotic stroke), compared to those that don’t have migraines with aura, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2016. In a 25–year ongoing study of 12,844 adults (age 45–64) in four U.S. communities, 817 participants were identified as having an ischemic strokes (clot or a mass clogs a blood vessel, cutting off the blood flow to brain cells). When they compared migraine with aura patients to those who had migraine without aura, researchers found:

• Overall, migraine with aura patients were 2.4 times more likely to have an ischemic stroke.
• Migraine with aura patients were three times more likely to have an ischemic stroke caused by a mass or a clot that forms in the heart, dislodges and travels to the brain (cardio–embolic stroke).
• Migraine with aura patients were twice as likely to have an ischemic stroke caused by a clot that develops in a clogged part of the blood vessel supplying blood to the brain (thrombotic stroke).
• There was no significant association between migraine with aura and ischemic stroke caused by blockage of small arteries that supply blood to deep brain structures (lacunar stroke).

Since migraines alter the blood vessels in the brain, the greater incidence of strokes caused by blood clots in the heart or the brain’s blood vessels suggests that migraine also affects blood vessels in the heart and neck.