Comparison of Diet Quality Between Women With Chronic and Episodic Migraine

Different triggers including environmental, hormonal, and dietary factors have been introduced as migraine risk factors. There is some evidence to suggest that a high quality of diet could be effective regarding management of migraine. In this present study, we hypothesized that the diet quality of women with chronic migraine (CM) might be different from women with episodic migraine (EM).

In this cross-sectional study, 116 women with chronic and 169 women with episodic migraine (25-55 years old) were recruited from the neurology clinics of Golestan hospital in Ahvaz (southwest Iran) based on the International Classification of Headache Disorders-III. Anthropometric data including weight, height, waist, and hip circumference were measured. Dietary intake data were obtained using a reliable and valid semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire that included 168 food items. The diet quality of subjects was calculated using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015).

The mean HEI score of participants was 57.29 ± 7.98. The participants were classified into 3 groups of "poor," "needs improvement," and "good" based on their diet quality. The frequencies of each group were 50/285 (17.5%), 233/285 (81.8%), and 2/285 (0.7%), respectively. Moreover, the mean of HEI score in women with CM was significantly lower than women with EM (55.93 ± 7.90 vs 58.93 ± 7.93, P = .02). Moreover, there was a significant negative association between CM and HEI score of women (β = -2.03; 95% CI: [-3.97 to -0.10]; P = .04).

Women with CM had a lower diet quality than that of EM. Moreover, CM was significantly and inversely associated with HEI score in women.