According to World Health Organization, migraine is one of the most debilitating diseases, with significant repercussions on the personal, social, work and emotional lives of patients who suffer from it, and with significant costs that countries have to face (18,000 to 27,000 million in Europe). Approximately 1 billion people worldwide suffer from migraine (12% of the world’s population), with a clear predilection for young adults and women.
One of the main types of headache is migraine and it is one of the most common causes of temporary disability among women aged 15 to 49 years. Migraine is characterized by pain that usually affects the middle of the head, starting from the temple or forehead. The pain is very intense and pulsating; It is usually accompanied by nausea, vomiting, discomfort from light and sound with episodes that can last from a few hours to three days.
Before puberty, boys and girls are equally likely to suffer from migraine, but once development is reached, migraine is much more common among women. “Women have three times more likely to suffer from migraine than menand this type of headache tends to affect women more around 30-40 years“, a particularly busy period of life, with work, family, children, and in which the consequences of days lost due to debilitating pain are important,” says Gennaro Bussone, neurologist, founder of the Headache Center at the Besta Hospital in Milan. “Migraine is feminine,” she adds, “and the reason it affects women more is that they are usually very stressed and pressured by family and work commitments, and lead a life with their foot always on the accelerator. It is the brain that “warns” the woman that she has crossed the limits with the headachewhich becomes a symptom”.
Women also tend to have more difficulty sleeping than men, and fatigue can cause headaches. However, female sex hormones, and particularly their fluctuation, are the main cause of migraine in women.
Numerous scientific studies have shown that estrogens play an important role in the development of migraine. Between 60% and 70% of patients suffer attacks related to different times of the cycle, especially just before or during menstruation, when the level of estrogen drops. “The main cause is the periodic and sudden drop in estrogen. during this phase, which in women who are very sensitive to hormonal fluctuations can trigger pain,” explains Bussone, who was also president of the Italian Neurological Association for Headache Research.