Researchers find migraines are a bigger headache for women than for men

Migraine can afflict men, women and children. But it is not an equal opportunity disorder. Of those who suffer chronic crippling migraine attacks, the vast majority are women. They are as many as 85 per cent, according to the Migraine Research Founda- tion.

“A researcher once said that ‘the femaleness of migraine is inescapable,’ ” says Elizabeth Loder, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and chief of the division of headache and pain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “It’s true. Migraine disproportionately affects women.”

A migraine is much more than just a painful throbbing headache. It also is an incapacitating neurological disease with a wide range of symptoms, including visual disturbances, nausea and vomiting, dizziness and sensitivity to lights, noises, and scents. Episodes can last for hours, sometimes even days.

About 25 per cent of victims also experience “aura,” a collection of sensory disruptions, such as flashes of light, blind spots, or tingling and numbness in the hands and face. Moreover, migraine with aura in women under age 50 increases their risk of ischemic stroke.

Migraine affects 1 in every 7 adults globally, according to the World Health Organization and cost the U.S. alone an estimated $78 billion per year.

“We don’t have the answer for why migraines are more common in women than in men, but women are more susceptible to every pain condition than men,” says Janine Clayton, who directs the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Also, women in pain are not always taken seriously. Women are perceived as excessively seeking help.”

Boys experience more migraine than girls before puberty, then the equation changes, with girls and women bearing the brunt of migraine until after menopause.

The disorder then eases for most women.