The Association Between Migraine, Metabolic Syndrome, Insulin Resistance, and Obesity in Women: A Case-Control Study

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between migraines and obesity, insulin resistance (IR), and metabolic syndrome in female migraineurs.

A total of 141 female patients who experience migraines and a control group of 141 sex- and age-matched individuals who do not were enrolled in this case-control study. The migraine group was composed of patients from the Gebze Fatih Community Hospital (Kocaeli, Turkey) neurology outpatient service and the control group included hospital staff and friends who volunteered to participate. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Migraine was designated as a dependent variable. Family history of migraine, stroke, metabolic syndrome, cardiac disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes mellitus; cigarette use; alcohol consumption; and the presence of hypertension, IR, hypertriglyceridemia, low level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), central obesity, metabolic syndrome; as well as homeostasis model assessment and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index results were selected as independent variables.

The mean waist circumference, mean height, mean weight, and central obesity were greater in the control group (p=0.009, 0.004, 0.036, and 0.015, respectively). A multivariate logistic regression model of migraine presence showed that a family history of migraine (odds ratio [OR]: 1.542, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.451-8.905; p<0.0001), family history of stroke (OR: 1.043, 95% CI: 1.214-6.633; p=0.016), and no central obesity (OR: -0.705, 95% CI: -0.290-0.843; p=0.010) were statistically significant variables in our study.

The results of our study indicated that IR and metabolic syndrome were not associated with migraine in women. There was an inverse relationship between central obesity and migraine. Additional research with larger participant groups should be performed to further explore the complex relationship between migraine, obesity, IR, and metabolic syndrome.