BACKGROUND: Obesity seems to be associated to migraine headache. Increase in 
body fat, especially in gluteofemoral region, elevates adiponectin and leptin 
secretion which in turn impair inflammatory processes that could be contributing 
to migraine risk. This study was designed to assess the relationship between 
body composition and risk of migraine for the first time.
METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 1510 middle-aged women who were visited 
in a weight reduction clinic of university were recruited. Migraine was 
diagnosed with HIS criteria. Body composition parameters including total fat 
mass (FATM), total fat free mass (FFM), truncal fat mass (TFATM), and truncal 
fat free mass (TFFM) was assessed using bioelectric impedance. We further 
assessed cardiovascular risk factors and smoking as confounding factors. To 
determine the real association between different variables and risk of migraine, 
the associations were adjusted by multivariate logistic regression analysis.
RESULTS: Elevation in fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, 
FFM, TFFM, and waist-to-hip ratio increased the risk of migraine. When the 
associations were adjusted for other factors, only the association between 
migraine and FFM remained statistically significant.
CONCLUSION: Lower FFM increased the risk of migraine in overweight and obese 
individuals. In the other words, higher fat free mass could be a protective 
factor for migraine.