Women who have migraines with aura, which are often visual disturbances such as flashing lights, may be more likely to have problems with their heart and blood vessels, a study has found.

And those on newer contraceptives maybeathigherriskforbloodclots,theresearchers said.

Out of the two studies carried, the first study showed that migraine with aura is a strong contributor to the development of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke.

The Women’s Health Study involved 27,860 women, 1,435 of whom had migrainewithaura.Duringthe15-yearstudy, there were 1,030 cases of heart attack, stroke or death from a cardiovascular cause. The study examined the relative contribution of various vascular risk factors to these major cardiovascular events.

"After high blood pressure, migraine with aura was the second strongest single contributor to risk of heart attacks and strokes," study author Tobias Kurth said. "It came ahead of diabetes, current smoking, obesity, and family history of early heart disease," Kurth said.