Obesity linked to severe headaches

Being overweight or obese may increase the likelihood of having severe headaches and migraine. To investigate the association between body mass index (BMI - the ratio between height and weight), and headache, researchers from America studied 7601 men and women, aged 20 years or older. Overall, about 15 percent of the men and 28 percent of the women reported having severe headaches or migraine during the previous 3 months. The researchers monitored the weight of all the participants. Nearly 35 percent of the participants were overweight (BMI between 25 and 30), another 30 percent were obese (BMI over 30), and 33 percent were in the normal weight range (BMI between 18.5 and 25).After accounting for other factors associated with higher headache risk such as gender, ethnicity, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, diabetes and cholesterol levels, it was found that participants who were overweight or obese had a higher headache frequency than did normal-weight participants. Overall, being overweight or obese doubled the likelihood of headache.The researchers noted that if obesity increases the risk for headaches, weight management might be a useful approach in headache management in obese or overweight patients.

DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, weight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.

Advertisement