Hyperlipidemia in migraine: Is it more frequent in migraineurs?

Background: Some coincidental disorders with migrainehave been introduced that may have role in itspathogenesis or aggravation. In this study we determinedthe relative frequency of hyperlipidemia as a coincidentaldisorder in patients affected by migraine.Methods: A total of 102 migraine-affected patientsaccording to International Headache Society (HIS) criteriaand 103 control subjects adjusted for age participated inthis case-control study. Their serum level of triglyceride,total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) weremeasured.Results: A total of 84 women and 18 men with mean age of34.9 ± 11.8 years and 79 women and 24 men with mean ageof 32.8 ± 5.7 years constituted case and control groups,respectively. The means of serum triglyceride, totalcholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C levels in case and controlgroups were 177.0 ± 118.2 versus 108.7 ± 37.2 mg/dl(P = 0.0001), 186.2 ± 44.1 versus 152.9 ± 3.7 mg/dl(P = 0.0001), 49.9 ± 12.5 versus 46.1 ± 10.7 mg/dl (P = 0.023)and 104.8 ± 33.7 versus 84.1 ± 34.0 mg/dl (P = 0.0001),respectively. The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia andhypercholesterolemia in case and control groups were41.2% versus 18.4 % (P = 0.0001), and 36.3% versus 9.7%(P = 0.0001). According to multivariate analysis, odds ratioswere 3.11 (95% CI: 1.4 -6.6) and 17.4 (95% CI: 2.12-138.3),respectively. Odds ratio for low HDL-C was 0.2 (95% CI:0.08-0.49).Conclusion: Hypertriglyceridemia andhypercholesterolemia were more frequent inmigraineurs. Conversely, low HDL-C was less frequentamong the patients compared with non-migraineurs.