Women with migraines have lower breast-cancer risk

Breast cancer would seem to have little to do with migraine headaches. But a study has found the two are connected in one sense: Women who have them are 30% less likely to develop breast cancer compared with women who do not have a history of migraines. The study, from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, examined data from 3,412 postmenopausal women. More than half of the women had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The women were asked whether they had been diagnosed with migraines. The study found that migraine history appeared to reduce the risk of the most common subtypes of breast cancer: estrogen-receptor and progesterone-receptor positive.

Although there is no explanation for the connection, the study, published today in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, suggests that the same hormones that contribute to breast cancer risk play a role in preventing migraines. For example, it's been observed that some women who take birth control pills tend to have migraines during the hormone-free week each month. Other women have noted that they are free of migraines during pregnancy, when estrogen levels are high. Estrogen is known to stimulate the growth of hormonally sensitive breast cancer.

The study could help researchers understand more about the biology of the disease and how risk can be reduced, said the lead author, Christopher I. Li.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[good grief]

THIS is bad science ... and to have released it in the form that it has been transmitted is - oh less than ideal. There is a correlation and THAT is all. CNN keeps saying it is because of the hormones as though that is a fact. It is not, and actually even making the suggestion is a lie. There are so many other variables to be captured ... but worse, running down the wrong track could easily mask what might be helpful and easy for other women to know. It makes me wonder about the vested interest. Was this a survey? It isn't completely clear what contributes to migraines and appear multivariate INCLUDING emotional responses. I am interested to know, for the women migrainers ... were they managing the migrains well compared to a control group?? If so, what were they doing? And how does the control group compare to the breast cancer group????