Weather – headache links rejected in study

Weather has no significant effect on migraine sufferers’ condition, a landmark study has found.

Vienna’s General Hospital (AKH) announced today (Fri) experts of the University Clinic for Neurology could not find strong indicators linking weather conditions and abrupt chances of weather to headaches and migraine in a survey. AKH explained the researchers cooperated with Vienna’s Central Agency for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) in the survey in which 238 people who suffered from migraine on a regular basis took part.

The participants were asked to keep diaries on their conditions. Their notes where then compared by meteorologists with changes in weather. The neurologists concluded that headaches were more often a result of stress and other personal factors and self-fulfilling prophecy than caused by the weather. They explained that menstruation, genetic aspects and a sudden relieve from stress also mattered more than weather factors like temperatures, the strength of wind, atmospheric pressure levels and the amount of rain.