Female migraine sufferers ‘at less risk of breast cancer’

FEMALE migraine sufferers are at a significantly lower risk of breast cancer, a study published yesterday has suggested.

Research has shown that women with a history of the severe, recurrent headaches have a 30% lower risk of breast cancer compared with women who do not suffer such attacks.

The study, conducted by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, in Seattle, US, looked at the histories of more than 3,000 women from the region, nearly 2,000 of whom had a history of breast cancer.

The results are published in this month’s issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

Dr Christopher Li said the researchers suspected the association between breast cancer and migraines was linked to fluctuations in levels of circulating hormones.

Oestrogen is known to stimulate hormonally sensitive breast cancer.

He said in late pregnancy, where oestrogen levels are high, 80% of migraine sufferers do not have the headaches.

“Migraines seem to have a hormonal component in that they occur more frequently in women than in men, and some of their known triggers are associated with hormones,” he said.

He added: “While these results need to be interpreted with caution, they point to a possible new factor that may be related to breast-cancer risk.

“This gives us a new avenue to explore the biology behind risk reduction.”