Obesity and chronic daily headache

Abstract

Obesity may be the greatest epidemic of modern times. It leads to diabetes and heart disease and shortens lifespan. Although not a risk factor for migraine, it is associated with an increased frequency and intensity of migraine. Obesity is also comorbid with chronic daily headache and is a major risk factor for chronification of episodic migraine in adults and children. Although obesity is not a factor in the effectiveness of migraine treatment, it does increase the peripheral and central events in migraine, ultimately increasing the neurologic potential for migraine. Although evidence suggests that obesity is a modifiable risk factor for migraine progression, it is unknown if weight loss is related to decrease in headache frequency. Recent surgical results suggest that this is true. We suggest all possible effective techniques aimed at weight loss be undertaken for migraineurs, especially obese migraineurs, and that carefully monitoring weight changes should be routinely done as part of their migraine care.