Migraine in older drivers has been linked to increased risk of accidents

American researchers have found that people who started suffering from migraine in old age are significantly more likely to be involved in car accidents within a year of diagnosis. A publication about this appeared in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. In a prospective cohort study in five U.S. states, Carolyn DiGuiseppi of the University of Colorado and colleagues from various U.S. research centers followed 2,589 drivers aged 65-79 years (53 percent were women; each individual driver was followed for two years) for five years. Participants reported the accidents they were involved in, and their driving style was determined by GPS sensors in their cars.

324 participants (12.5 percent) reported already suffering from migraine at the start, and 34 (1.3 percent) developed the condition during the follow-up period. It was found that long-term migraine had a slight decrease in the total number of trips and an increase in emergency braking, but had no effect on crash frequency. At the same time, within a year after the first diagnosis, the risk of getting into an accident increased significantly - the odds ratio after adjusting for comorbidities was 3.27 (95% confidence interval 1.21-8.82). At the same time, taking antimigraine medications did not significantly affect the frequency of accidents and driving style.