Migraine Age of Onset and Association With Ischemic Stroke in Late Life: 20 Years Follow‐Up in ARIC

Background and Purpose To evaluate the association between cumulative exposure to migraine and incidence of ischemic stroke in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Methods In this ongoing, prospective longitudinal community‐based cohort, participants were interviewed to ascertain migraine history at the third visit (1993–1995), followed for ischemic stroke incidence over 20 years. We performed a post hoc analysis to evaluate the association between the age of migraine onset and ischemic stroke. Results We identified 447 migraineurs with aura (MA) and 1128 migraineurs without aura (MO) among 11,592 black and white participants. There was an association between the age of MA onset ≥50 years old (average duration = 4.75 years) and ischemic stroke when compared to no headache group (multivariable adjusted HR = 2.17, 95% CI [1.39–3.39], P