The multiple ways climate change threatens to make migraines worse

Changes in weather have long been associated as a migraine trigger, and the University of Cincinnati's Vince Martin, MD, recently published research that found hotter temperatures increase the chance of a migraine attack.

The recent study looked at use of the drug Fremanezumab and whether it could prevent headaches caused by temperature increases. Produced by Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Fremanezumab is sold under the brand name AJOVY®, administered by injection under the skin to treat migraines.

A research team led by Martin cross-referenced 71,030 daily diary records of 660 migraine patients with regional weather data and found that for every temperature increase of 10 degrees Fahrenheit daily, there was a 6% increase in occurrence of any headache. However, during the time periods of Fremanezumab treatment the association completely disappeared.

Martin told Wired he believes climate change could worsen migraines for patients in the long term.

“Patients will often say that they can predict the weather,” Martin, professor in the Department of Internal Medicine in UC's College of Medicine and director of the Headache and Facial Pain Center at the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute, said. “I think [climate change] is going to have an enormous effect on migraine."

Read the Wired story.

Read more about Martin's research.