Improvement of migraine headaches in severely obese patients after bariatric surgery

Objectives: Research increasingly suggests that obesity is an exacerbating factor for migraine. However, it is less clear whether weight loss may help to alleviate migraine in obese individuals. We examined whether weight loss after bariatric surgery is associated with improvements in migraine headaches. Methods: In this prospective observational study, 24 patients who had migraine according to the ID-Migraine screener were assessed before and 6 months after bariatric surgery. At both time points, patients had their weight measured and reported on frequency of headache days, average headache pain severity, and headache-related disability over the past 90 days via the Migraine Disability Assessment questionnaire. Changes in headache measures and the relation of weight loss to these changes were assessed using paired-sample t tests and logistic regression, respectively. Results: Patients were mostly female (88%), middle-aged (mean age 39.3), and severely obese (mean body mass index 46.6) at baseline. Mean (±SD) number of headache days was reduced from 11.1 ± 10.3 preoperatively to 6.7 ± 8.2 postoperatively ( p p p p Conclusions: Severely obese migraineurs experience marked alleviation of headaches after significant weight reduction via bariatric surgery. Future studies are needed to determine whether more modest, behaviorally produced weight losses can effect similar migraine improvements. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class III evidence that bariatric surgery is associated with reduction of migraine headaches in severely obese individuals.