Hypertension may mean fewer headaches

Blood pressure check (Photo credit: Army Medicine)

by Eric Nagourney

Could there be an upside to high blood pressure? Well, it may lower the chances of having headaches, including migraines, researchers said Monday.

That may well be the only good thing to be said for high blood pressure, a cause of any number of serious health problems. It also reflects a shift in thinking about what role blood pressure plays in headaches.

For many years, the researchers write in te journal Neurology, scientist assumed that people with high blood pressure were more likely to get headaches. Then studies found no association.

But in recent years, evidence has emerged showing that the relationship may be opposite of what was first relieved.

The study, led by Dr. Erling Tronvik of Trondheim University Hospital in Norway, looked at data from more than 50,000 people in that country over two different periods.

The biggest benefit was found in peope with the highest pulse pressure, a measurement of the difference between the diastolic and systolic pressure at the moment the heart beats.

They had up to 50 percent fewer headaches,

People with systolic pressure – the top number – also appeared to do better.

People who took medicine to control their blood pressure appeared to benefit less, even though these drugs are often given to migraine sufferers.

The explanation for why hypertension may reduce headaches, te researchers said, may lie in the tendency of people with high blood pressure to have stiffer artery walls – a condition that can lead to less overall pain.

Source: Manila Bulletin