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Abstract

Background:

Some cross-sectional studies have suggested an association between migraine and increased body weight. However, prospective data on the association are lacking.

Methods:

We conducted a prospective cohort study among 19,162 participants in the Women’s Health Study who had a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5– <25 kg/m² at baseline. Migraine was self-reported by standardized questionnaires. Main outcome measures were incident overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²), incident obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²) and mean weight change. Age- and multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated for the association between migraine and incident overweight and obesity. Differences in weight change were evaluated by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Results:

A total of 3,483 (18.2%) women reported any migraine history. After 12.9 years of follow-up, 7916 incident overweight and 730 incident obesity cases occurred. Migraineurs had multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% confidence interval) of 1.11 (1.05–1.17) for becoming overweight and 1.00 (0.83–1.19) for becoming obese. These associations remained stable after censoring for chronic diseases and were similar according to migraine aura status. Multivariable-adjusted mean weight change from baseline to the end of study was +4.7 kg for migraineurs and +4.4 kg for women without migraine (p = 0.02).

Conclusion:

Results of this large prospective study of middle-aged women do not indicate a consistent association between migraine and incident overweight, obesity or relevant weight gain.

Keywords

Migraine body mass index overweight obesity prospective study

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