Study of the relationship between obesity, body mass index and migraine: is it a possible risk factor

ABSTRACT

To assess the influence of body mass index [BMI] on the prevalence, attack frequency and clinical features of migraine. As well as studying the relationship between BMI and level of migraine-related disability. This is a cross-sectional comparative study of 437 patients reviewing the obesity clinic in primary care center and medical outpatient clinic in general hospital. The participants were divided into 4 categories based on BMI normal weight [18.5-24.9], overweight [25.0-29.9], obese [30.0-34.9], and morbidly obese [>35.0]. Migraine prevalence and clinical features were assessed as a function of BMI. Among individuals with migraine, very frequent migraine attacks [10-14 d/mo] occurred in 16% of the overweight [OR 1.3], 44% of the obese [OR 2.9] AND 24% [OR 5.7] subjects, compared with 2% of those with normal weight. Among migrainures, 31.1% of those with normal weight had some disability compared with 36.9% of the overweight, 37.8% of the obese and 41.1% of the morbidly obese subjects. Our study support that obesity is an exacerbating factor for migraine and was propose that migraine and obesity may share same path physiological biological mechanisms that would be advices to undergo further researches to explore more about it