Biostatistics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Biostatistics, including details on statistics, uncertainty, probability, modeling. | ||||||||
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Body mass index and episodic headaches: a population-based study.Bigal ME, Tsang A, Loder E, Serrano D, Reed ML, Lipton RB Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. mbigal@aecom.yu.edu BACKGROUND: We investigated the influence of the body mass index (BMI [calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared]) on the frequency, severity, and patterns of treatment of migraine, probable migraine (PM), and severe episodic tension-type headache (S-ETTH). METHODS: A validated questionnaire was mailed to 120 000 households selected to be representative of the US population. The participants were divided into 5 categories based on BMI: underweight (<18.5), normal weight (18.5-24.9), overweight (25.0-29.9), obese (30.0-34.9), and morbidly obese (>35.0). Analyses were adjusted by covariates that included demographic variables (age, sex, race, and income), duration of illness, comorbidities, use of preventive medication, and use of opioids. RESULTS: The response rate was 65%. We identified 18 968 individuals with migraine, 7564 with PM, and 2051 with S-ETTH. The distribution of very frequent headaches (10-14 d/mo) was assessed by BMI. Among individuals with migraine, very frequent headaches (10-14 d/mo) occurred in 7.4% of the overweight (P = .10), 8.2% of the obese (P < .001), and 10.4% of the morbidly obese (P < .0001) subjects, compared with 6.5% of those with normal weight, in adjusted analyses. Among individuals with PM and S-ETTH, the differences were not significant (P = .20). The disability of migraineurs, but not of those with PM or S-ETTH, also varied as a function of BMI. Among migraineurs, 32.0% of those with normal weight had some disability compared with 37.2% of the overweight (P < .01), 38.4% of the obese (P < .001), and 40.9% of the morbidly obese (P < .001) subjects. CONCLUSION: These findings support the concept that obesity is an exacerbating factor for migraine but not for other types of episodic headaches. Published 9 October 2007 in Arch Intern Med, 167(18): 1964-70.
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