Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2015 Sep;35(10):886-93.
doi: 10.1177/0333102414562970. Epub 2014 Dec 4.

Objectively measured physical activity in obese women with and without migraine

Dale S Bond  1 , J Graham Thomas  2 , Kevin C O'Leary  3 , Richard B Lipton  4 , B Lee Peterlin  5 , Julie Roth  6 , Lucille Rathier  2 , Rena R Wing  2
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Objectively measured physical activity in obese women with and without migraine

Dale S Bond et al. Cephalalgia. 2015 Sep.

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this article is to cross-sectionally compare objectively measured physical activity (PA) levels and their association with migraine characteristics in obese women with and without migraine.

Methods: Obese women seeking weight loss treatment were divided into migraine (n = 25) and control (n = 25) groups matched by age and body mass index (BMI). Participants wore the SenseWear Armband monitor for seven days to objectively evaluate daily light-(LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA). Migraine diagnosis was confirmed by a neurologist using ICHD-3-beta criteria. Migraine characteristics were tracked daily using a smartphone-based diary over a four-week period immediately preceding the objective PA assessment.

Results: Migraine participants spent 57.9 fewer minutes/day in LPA (141.1 ± 56.4 vs. 199.1 ± 87.7, p = 0.019) and 24.5 fewer minutes/day in MVPA (27.8 ± 17.0 vs. 52.3 ± 26.0, p < 0.001), compared to controls. Migraine participants reported 4.8 ± 3.1 migraine days/month (mean duration = 17.1 ± 8.9 hours; mean maximum pain severity = 6.4 ± 1.7 on a 0-10 scale). Higher BMI (p < 0.05), but not migraine characteristics, were related to lower total PA. Additionally, total objectively measured PA was not associated with how often PA was reported to exacerbate migraine attacks during the four-week diary assessment.

Conclusions: Obese women with migraine spent nearly 1.5 hours/day less in PA compared to controls; however, lower PA was not related to migraine characteristics. Further research is needed to identify PA barriers and effective interventions in obese women with migraine.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01197196 NCT01724632.

Keywords: Obesity; headache; migraine; physical activity; smartphone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of daily physical activity in obese women with and without migraine. *= p <0.05, ** p <0.001. Adjusted for daily monitor (i.e. SenseWear Mini Armband) wear time.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bigal ME, Liberman JN, Lipton RB. Obesity and migraine: A population study. Neurology. 2006;66:545–550. - PubMed
    1. Bigal ME, Lipton RB. Obesity is a risk factor for transformed migraine but not chronic tension-type headache. Neurology. 2006;67:252–257. - PubMed
    1. Bigal ME, Tsang A, Loder E, et al. Body mass index and episodic headaches: A population-based study. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:1964–1970. - PubMed
    1. Fava A, Pirritano D, Consoli D, et al. Chronic migraine in women is associated with insulin resistance: A cross-sectional study. Eur J Neurol. 2014;21:267–272. - PubMed
    1. Peterlin BL, Rosso AL, Williams MA, et al. Episodic migraine and obesity and the influence of age, race, and sex. Neurology. 2013;81:1314–1321. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data