Headache and obesity are both common and disabling disorders. These US investigators studied the relationship between them including frequency, severity and type of headache. They identified 18,968 individuals with migraine, 7564 with  probable migraine, and 2051 with severe episodic tension-type headache.

 

Among individuals with migraines, very frequent headaches occurred in 6.5% of individuals with normal weight and increased to 10.4% of the morbidly obese. Disability related to migraine also was increased among the obese and morbidly obese, 41% of the morbidly obese compared with 32% of those with normal weight.

 

The authors concluded: “These findings support the concept that obesity is an exacerbating factor for migraine but not for other types of episodic headaches.”