The number of Americans who experience migraines hasn’t changed much over the past 30 years, but the headache’s impact on a person’s daily life has gotten much worse, according to a new study published in the journal Headache.
In reviewing 11 studies ranging from 1989 to 2018, researchers found that the Migraine Disability Assessment Scale, which evaluated how a migraine affects what a person does in a day, has shot up from 22% to 42.4% since 2004. Additionally, said lead researcher Dr. Fred Cohen of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, the average monthly frequency of migraines has increased in the past two decades.
The rise in frequency and impact of migraines could be because of increased social awareness and lower social stigma surrounding the condition. However, it’s well-documented that severe and erratic weather triggers migraines, said Cohen, and that could be contributing to the increase into the number of headaches and their severity. Weather changes can disrupt the brain’s balance of chemicals and aggravate both headache and other neurological conditions such as stroke, dementia and schizophrenia.
