Migraine May Be Associated With Body Mass Index

HealthDay News — Weight — both overweight and underweight — may influence risk of migraine headaches, according to a review published in Neurology.

B. Lee Peterlin, DO, director of headache research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues evaluated 12 previously published studies with 288,981 unique participants.

The investigators found that obese people (body mass index of 30 kg/m² or higher) were 27% more likely to have migraines than people who were at a normal weight. Those who were underweight (body mass index of less than 18.5 kg/m²) were 13% more likely to have migraines.

“Studies are needed to confirm whether interventions that modify obesity status decrease the risk of migraine,” the authors concluded.

Reference

Gelaye B, Sacco S, Brown WJ, Nitchie HL, Ornello R, Peterlin BL. Body composition status and the risk of migraine: A meta-analysis [published online April 12, 2017]. Neurology. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000003919