BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of obesity and leptin levels on patients with migraine, and to observe the change of leptin levels in migraineurs.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We enrolled 52 migraine patients from the Headache Clinic in Shandong Provincial Hospital into a randomized controlled trial with another 52 age-, sex-, and BMI-matched healthy subjects as controls. Leptin levels in all subjects were determined by radioimmunoassay.

RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the migraineurs revealed no significant change in leptin levels (P>0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that neither abdominal obesity nor leptin had significant impact on migraine clinical features. Total body obesity had a significant effect on the frequency (OR=4.248), duration (OR=3.167), and intensity (OR=5.225) of the headache.

CONCLUSIONS: Total body obesity affected headache frequency, intensity, and duration, while leptin levels did not.

Keywords: Adolescent, Body Mass Index, Case-Control Studies, Leptin - blood, Migraine Disorders - complications, Multivariate Analysis, Obesity - complications, Obesity, Abdominal - blood, Odds Ratio, Radioimmunoassay, young adult