Study Finds Link Between Breast Cancer, Migraines

By Linh Pham
Staff Writer

An interesting study with findings reported in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention links migraines to a reduction in breast cancer. Researchers report that women who had migraines, a severe headache that may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting, have a 30 percent lower risk of breast cancer compared to those women who didn’t.

The reduction in breast cancer risk was for common types of breast cancers driven by hormones such as estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer as well as progesterone-receptor positive breast cancer.

Dr. Christopher Li of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle states that while the link is unclear, he and his colleagues believe hormones may play a pivotal role in the connection.

Li states that women who have higher levels of estrogen in their blood have higher levels of breast cancer. Migraines, on the other hand, appear when there are low levels of estrogen, such as when estrogen levels fall during a woman’s menstrual cycle. Therefore, these women who have migraines “may have a chronically lower baseline estrogen. That difference could be what is protective against breast cancer.”

The study involved 3,412 post menopausal women in the Seattle area, 1,938 diagnosed with breast cancer and 1,474 of which had no history of breast cancer. Women in the study provided information on their migraine history.
The study involved all post-menopausal women since “Migraines are typically most severe among pre-menopausal women,” said Li

While more studies need to be done, this finding may point to new ways of reducing breast cancer risk for women.