Acupuncture Reduces Stroke Risk in Migraine Patients

Acupuncture reduces stroke risk in migraine patients. Numerous studies, including five meta-analyses, have linked migraine, particularly migraine with aura, with increased risk of ischaemic stroke. The relative risk of ischaemic stroke is doubled in people with migraine with aura compared with migraine-free individuals. (1)

Now a large retrospective cohort study in Taiwan suggests that acupuncture is effective at reducing the risk of stroke in patients with migraine. The university-based authors collected data from a national insurance database on all newly diagnosed migraine patients over an 18 year period, and assigned them to an acupuncture or non-acupuncture cohort. They then followed them up until the end of 2018. Each cohort consisted of 1354 patients with similar baseline characteristics.

On analysis, the acupuncture cohort showed significantly less risk of stroke across male and female patients, and the authors conclude that these findings support the use of acupuncture in migraine patients to reduce long-term stroke risk.

(Acupuncture Is Effective at Reducing the Risk of Stroke in Patients with Migraines: A Real-World, Large-Scale Cohort Study with 19-Years of Follow-Up. International Journal Environmental Research & Public Health, 17 January 2023.)

(1) Migraine and risk of stroke. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, Volume 91, Issue 6.

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.