For migraine sufferers suffering from obesity, losing weight can lessen headaches

Weight loss can reduce headaches and improve the quality of life of migraine sufferers suffering from obesity, Italian and American researchers reported. The results of their meta-badysis will be presented on Saturday, March 23 at the annual meeting of ENDO 2019, the Endocrine Society, in New Orleans, La.

"If you have migraine headaches and are obese, weight loss will improve the quality of your family and social life, as well as your productivity at work and at school." Your overall quality of life will improve. considerably, "said Claudio Pagano, MD, lead author of the study. , Ph.D., Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Padua in Padua, Italy.

"Weight loss in adults and children with obesity significantly improves migraines by improving all the major features that make quality of life worse for migraine sufferers," he added. "When people lose weight, the number of days per month with migraine decreases, as does the intensity of the pain and the duration of the attack of the headache."

To investigate the effects of weight loss achieved by bariatric surgery or behavioral intervention on the frequency and severity of migraine, Pagano and colleagues reviewed standard online medical research databases for studies on the intensity of the pain, the frequency of headaches, the duration of the attack, the disability; and BMI, BMI modification, intervention (bariatric or behavioral surgery) and population (adult or pediatric).

In a meta-badysis of the 473 patients from the 10 studies meeting the inclusion criteria of the researchers, they discovered that weight loss was related to a significant reduction in the frequency of headaches, intensity pain and disability

Improvement in migraine was not related to the degree of obesity at baseline or the importance of weight reduction. In addition, the effect on migraine was similar when weight reduction was achieved by bariatric surgery or behavioral intervention and was comparable in adults and children.

"Weight loss reduces the impact of diseases badociated with obesity, including diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke and respiratory disease," said Dr. Pagano. . "Obesity and migraine are common in industrialized countries.Improving the quality of life and disability of these patients will have a huge impact on these populations and will reduce the direct and indirect costs of Health care."

According to the authors, the mechanisms that link obesity, weight loss, and migraine are unclear, but they could include alterations in chronic inflammation, adipocytokines, co-morbidities related to the body's own health. obesity and behavioral and psychological risk factors.

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The endocrine society