The effects of body mass index on the treatment of the patients with migraine headaches

Background: Migraine is a prevalent disease which isclassified into two groups of migraine with aura andwithout aura. Eighteen percent of women and 6.5 percentof men in United States have migraine headache. Migraineheadache is prevalent in all age groups but it usuallysubsides in adults above fifty. Migraine has many riskfactors such as stress, light, tiredness, special foods andbeverages. The aim of this study was the evaluation of theeffects of body mass index (BMI) on the treatment ofmigraine headaches.Methods: All patients assigned to four groups according totheir BMI. Patients with more than three attacks per monthreceived nortriptyline and propranolol for eight weeks. Thefrequency, duration and severity of pain were measured byvisual analogue scale (VAS) and behavioral rating scale (BRS-6) in regular intervals.Results: 203 patients completed the study. 153(75%) subjectswere women and 50(25%) were men. Mean age of patientswas 30.5 ± 7.1 years. Mean weight was 80.4 ± 14.1 kg andmean height was 1.67 ± 0.07 m. Pain frequency and durationshowed statistically significant differences among four groupswith better response in patients with lower BMI (P < 0.0001).VAS and BRS-6 scales showed statistically significantdifferences among four groups in favor of patients withlower BMI (P < 0.0001).