Migraine and obesity: metabolic parameters and response to a weight loss programme

Weight loss can determine significant improvement of migraine in obese patients. Herein, we evaluated a clinical sample of adolescent migraineurs with obesity who participated in an interdisciplinary programme for weight loss, in order to identify possible metabolic parameters associated with good migraine control.

Using a cross-sectional design, we evaluated 112 out of 135 adolescents who previously underwent our intervention programme. Based on persistence of headache, subjects for comparison were 40 migraine-free and 72 not migraine-free adolescents. Participants underwent anthropometric evaluations and biochemical tests.

Patients with persistence of migraine had significantly higher weight (P < 0.01), body mass index (P < 0.01), waist circumference (P < 0.01), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (P < 0.001), triglyceride (P < 0.05), total cholesterol (P < 0.05) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P < 0.05) values when compared with those who became migraine-free. Between potential predictors, only insulin resistance (odds ratio = 3.5, 95% confidence interval = 1.4-6.1; P <  0.001) was significantly associated with persistence of migraine after intervention programme.

Among obese adolescents with migraine who underwent an intervention programme for weight loss, patients who did not become migraine-free showed higher adiposity values than those who became migraine-free. Patients with insulin resistance had 3.5 times the odds of having persistence of migraine compared with those without.