Study linking air quality to headaches revealed

A scientific investigation has failed to show an association between air quality and an increased risk of headaches, but the potential connection is generating interest among researchers, an expert has said.

Kenneth Mukamal, a managing director at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School in Boston, explained that previous studies had linked air quality to health problems such as heart disease and strokes.

"There is growing interest in exploring whether there is any link between air pollution and headaches," he added.

New research - which included more than 7,000 people - was published in this month's Neurology medical journal, but it concluded that air pollution had no affect on the risk of developing a headache.

However, the study showed that higher temperatures and lower barometric air pressure can increase a person's chance of developing a migraine in the short term.

It comes after environmental analysis by the Centre for Environmental Genetics at the University of Cincinnati found that exposure to low air quality caused by traffic pollution could increase a pregnant woman's chances of giving birth to a child which suffers from asthma.