The Association Between Body Fat Percentage and Severe Headache or Migraine: A National Cross-Sectional Survey

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2024-10, Vol.16 (10), p.e72446
• Main Authors: Xu, Rongjiang, Dong, Liang, Xu, Xiaonuo, Fan, Xiaoping, Zhou, Jiying
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcohol; Blood pressure; Body fat; Diabetes; Females; Gender; Headaches; Hispanic Americans; Hypertension; Investigations; Marital status; Migraine; Neurology; Nutrition; Obesity; Overweight; Pain Management; Population; Regression analysis; Secondary schools; Smoking; Variables; Variance analysis; Weight control
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.72446

Background and objective Migraine is characterized by recurrent headaches, frequently associated with nausea, photophobia, and phonophobia; it is highly prevalent and linked to a heavy socioeconomic burden. While the prevalence of obesity in the general population has increased in recent years, no prior studies exist regarding the relationship between body fat percentage (BF%) and the incidence of severe headaches or migraine. In light of this, we conducted this study to address this gap in data. Methods We utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) involving 5,060 individuals (1999-2004). After adjusting for gender, poverty-to-income ratio (PIR), educational attainment, smoking status, moderate physical activity, and hypertension, we employed restricted cubic spline (RCS) curves and logistic regression to examine the relationship between BF% and the occurrence of severe headaches or migraine. Results The study included 5,060 participants: 1,289 (25.5%) with severe headache or migraine and 3,771 (74.5%) without. Compared to patients without severe headaches or migraine, those with it were more likely to be female and have lower educational attainment, household income, and physical activity, as well as smoking, alcohol consumption, diabetes, and hypertension. In females in particular and overall, the models showed a significant association between BF% and severe headache or migraine, whereas there was no association between BF% and severe headache or migraine in the male population. Multivariate logistic regression analyses using BF% quartiles yielded similar results. Conclusions We observed a substantial positive correlation between BF% and severe headaches or migraine after controlling for pertinent variables. This correlation was particularly strong in females. These findings underscore the intricate nature of the relationship between obesity and migraine, highlighting the necessity for more investigation to clarify the role that BF% plays in the escalation of migraine.