Despite being the cause of many serious health problems, high blood pressure seems to have great benefits when it comes to migraines, as new research showed.

Dr. Eling Tronvik of the Norwegian National Headache Center at Trondheim University Hospital in Norway and his colleagues found that high blood pressure seems to reduce the chances of migraine, besides decreasing the quantum of chronic pain in other parts of the body.

It was long believed that migraines and other types of headaches are more common among people with high blood pressure, but studies conducted in the 1990s did not support this belief.

“This is a paradox. Several earlier studies have linked increasing blood pressure to a decrease in chronic pain in general, and this study suggests that the same is true for migraines,” Dr. Tronvik told WebMD.

The study’s data included information on blood pressure, use of blood pressure medications and headache frequency for 51,353 adults living in Norway in the 1980s and 1990s.

The biggest benefit was found in people with the highest pulse pressure, a measurement of the difference between the diastolic and systolic pressure at the moment the heart beats. They had up to 50 percent fewer headaches.

People with high systolic pressure also appeared to do better.

Things looked differently for people who took medicine to control their blood pressure, even though these drugs are often given to migraine sufferers.

“Higher pulse was linked to up a 50 percent reduction in the amount of headache and migraine for both men and women. The finding was not as strong, however, for people who were taking blood pressure medication, which are sometimes used to treat migraines,” Dr. Tronvik said.

How is that possible? Dr. Tronvik explained that high systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure are related to stiff arteries, which affect something called baroreflex arch.

“Both animal and human studies suggest that stimulation of the baroreflex arch can inhibit pain transmission. So changes in blood pressure may affect headache and migraine.”

However, Dr. Tronvik said, no matter how well high blood pressure prevents headaches, people should not abandon their hypertension medications. “High blood pressure is a huge problem in this country, and far too few people are controlling it as they should.”

The findings of the study were published in Tuesday’s issue of Neurology.