BOSTON–Chronic daily headache was not associated with obesity but was significantly associated with depression in a study of more than 300 neurology patients in Brazil.
The lack of an association between obesity and headache in the Brazilian sample contradicts findings from a recent population-based study in the United States showing that obese individuals in the community were at significantly increased risk for developing chronic daily headache, Dr. Luiz Queiroz said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
Dr. Queiroz of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil, and colleagues interviewed 336 patients at two neurology clinics from May to November 2005 regardless of whether or not their main complaint was for headache-related symptoms. The interview covered questions about sociodemographic data, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and headache characteristics.
The prevalence of depression in the full sample, indicated by a score of 21 or higher on the BDI scale, was 31%, and the prevalence of obesity was 17%, Dr. Queiroz reported in a poster presentation. Depression and obesity were not significantly associated, but both obesity and depression were significantly more prevalent among women than men, Dr. Queiroz said.
Of the 336 patients (237 women), 291 reported experiencing headaches within the past 12 months, and 73% of those with headache met the International Headache Society criteria for either migraine or probable migraine, and 46% met the criteria for chronic daily headache (15 or more headaches in the previous month).
Women were twice as likely as men to have chronic daily headache (CDH). Age also had an effect, with people aged 30–59 years being twice as likely to have CDH as those 60–84 years of age. People 13–29 years of age were slightly less likely than those 30–59 years old to have CDH. Participants with Beck Depression Inventory scores of 21 or higher were twice as likely to have CDH as those scoring below 21.
Assessment of body mass index (BMI) of patients with chronic daily headache failed to show any correlation between BMI of 30 or higher and chronic daily headache. Among patients with CDH, no statistically significant association was found between headache and obesity.