HOW IS MIGRAINE A WOMENS HEALTH ISSUE?
In General Migraine is a women’s health issue for several reasons, both medically and socially. In fact, the premier AHS headache medical conference held in November 1998 devoted a whole symposium, for the first time, to Migraine issues unique to women. First, approximately 80% of Migraine sufferers, or 18 million Americans, are women. Overall, about 26 million Americans suffer from Migraine. Approximately 1 in 5 women gets Migraines, while only 1 in 16 men gets Migraines. In addition, because hormonal changes in the body greatly effect Migraine, certain events associated with Migraine are unique to women, such as menstrual cycle, the taking of birth control pills, pregnancy, post delivery of a child, menopause, and estrogen treatment. The number of men and women that have Migraine is almost equal in early childhood, but the number of women with Migraine begins to greatly outnumber the number of men with Migraine after puberty. Menstrual Migraine Approximately 14% of women with Migrain
