Metabolic syndrome in migraine headache: A case-control study

BACKGROUND: The correlation of metabolic syndrome and migraine headache was evaluated in some previous studies. However there is no study that compared the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the patients with and without migraine. Control of coincidental factors such as metabolic syndrome reduces therapeutic resistance in migrainous patients. The aim of this study was to compare prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with and without migraine headache. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 200 migrainous patients diagnosed according to International Headache Society and 200 healthy controls without migraine enrolled in this study. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed according to ATP III criteria in these two groups and compared with each other. RESULTS: In this study, 17% (34) of migrainous patients and 15% (30) of healthy control without migraine had metabolic syndrome. (P = 0.585). Of the metabolic syndrome components, body mass index (P = 0.05) and waist circumference in migrainous (P = 0.03) were significantly more frequent. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that metabolic syndrome and migraine headache had not significant correlation; however, higher body mass index and waist circumference as metabolic syndrome components had correlated with migraine headache.