The Effect of Body Mass Index on Migraine Severity in Female Patients

Abstract

Background: Both Migraine & nutritional disorders are common disorders with significant health &
socioeconomic impacts. We aimed to determine the relationshipbetween BMI and migraine headache
severity, frequency, and disability.
Methods: We collected 100 females migraineurs attending the out patient clinic of a tertiary
neurology hospital. The patients were divided into four categories, based on BMI: underweight (<18.5),
normal weight (18.5 to 24.9), overweight (25 to 29.9), andobese (>30). The headache frequency,
severity, duration and disability using MIDAS score were assessed. Multivariate analyses were
conducted.
Results: On multivariate analysis, overweight patients represented 62.82% of longer headache (>24
hr) group while they represented only 22.73% among shorter headache (<24 hr) group (OR= 8.09,
95%CI=2.15-30.51, p=0.002). BMI have lost their association in multivariate analysis. Multi-parity of
2-3 and ≥4 were more common in severe headache cases than mild/moderate cases (OR=9.89, 95%CI=
1.4-69.67, p=0.021and OR=11.37, 95%CI=1.36-95.1, p= 0.025 respectively). 70.73% of patients with
severe headache were overweight compared with 42.37% of patients with mild/moderateheadache
(OR= 4.32, 95%CI=1.34-13.96, p=0.014). About 60% of patients with high MIDAS grade had ≥4 parity
compared with 17.86% of patients with low grade who had such parity (OR=7.78, 95%CI=1.27-47.61,
p=0.026). The frequency of overweight and obese patients among high grade group was 68.18% and
18.18%, respectively comparedwith 42.86% and 5.36%, respectively among low grade group with
significant differences (OR= 3.56, 95%CI=1.15-11.03, p= 0.027 and OR=7.22, 95%CI=1.1-47.14,
p=0.039, respectively).
Conclusion: BMI does have significant effects on migraine headache severity and the resulting
disability but its effects on headache frequency and duration was not supported