It is estimated that in Puerto Rico, migraine has a higher prevalence in this population, affecting 1 in 5 women.
Migraine is characterized by being debilitating and limiting for patients. Photomontage: Medicine and Public Health Magazine.
United States and Puerto Rico have similar statistics regarding the number of people diagnosed with migraine, a headache of varying intensity, usually accompanied by nausea and sensitivity to light or sound. This condition affects more than 10% of the population in both countries.
In this regard, Dr. Franchesca Fiorito, neurologist, and sub-specialist in headaches, and Dr. Héctor, Miranda, Director of the Department of Neurology of the Hospital of the UPR, Federico Trilla, explained to the Journal of Medicine and Public Health the causes of the high prevalence of migraine in the women compared to men and its relationship with genetic factors.
Hereditary component in migraine
The migraine it is a common disease, but for which there is still no cure or significant change to the disability it produces, despite all the efforts and talents of the scientific community around the world. However, it is known that there is a genetic factor, “one is born predisposed, that is, it is part of one, like many other medical conditions, it is hereditary in most cases,” said the neurologist.
About this, Dr. Miranda, indicated that genetics appears as responsible within the framework of the diagnosis of the migraineaccording to evidence from different scientific studies.
The medical literature reports that the discovery of the CACNA1A gene as responsible for the migraine familial hemiplegic, is a rare autosomal dominant inheritance disorder with a high incidence, which has been a catalyst for research into the migraine in its two most frequent variants, the MCA and the MSA.
In addition, Dr. Miranda clarified that a headache is not equal to one migrainesince this neurological syndrome has registered to date five types of migrainedifferentiating them from at least 98 types of headache.
Role of hormones
For Dr. Fiorito, the migraine It also has a lot to do with hormonal changes, including women are 3 more likely to have it than men. In this regard, she indicated that “the hormonal component of estrogen can fluctuate in the different reproductive stages of women and influence the symptoms of this condition.”
The percentages show that those who most suffer from this syndrome are women by 75%, compared to 25% of men, even, the migraine It has specific characteristics that must be present for it to be diagnosed. “Discovering this pain depends on the clinical study that occurs with the doctor-patient interaction,” emphasized Dr. Miranda.
Manifestations of migraine
One of the main features of the migraine is that the pain is hemicranian, that is, the one that occurs in the middle of the head and is pulsating. It is also associated with manifestations such as nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, resistance to light (photophobia) and annoyance to increased sounds (phonophobia).
“To anyone who has headache light bothers him, and sounds bother him, but with migraine this annoyance is superlative; his pupil is hurt, his ears want to burst. On the other hand, it must be a repetitive process, no one cares migraine just once,” Miranda added.
The migraine it tends to appear at an early age, a percentage around 5 or 6 years old, and the later ones around 17 or 18 years old. migraine“.
Need for further research
This condition is characterized by being debilitating and limiting, which can cause patients to absent themselves at work, family, personal and social levels; Likewise, it must be taken into account that the migraine affects the women in their reproductive and productive age. Given this, the neurologist makes the following call: “it is very important to raise awareness, manage it and continue investigating this condition.”
Specialists indicate that it is indisputable to work to improve care structures, to reduce the barriers that prevent patients from being cared for by trained professionals and receiving the treatments they require. Simultaneously, they highlight the importance of sensitizing patients with migraine so that they recognize the symptoms and ask for medical help.