Although the pathogenesis of migraine is very complex and has not been 
thoughtfully elucidated, general consensus exists to date that this condition 
should be considered a primary neurovascular disorder with an important 
inflammatory component. Owing to epidemiological evidence of increased risk of 
migraine in overweight and obese subjects and to the inverse relationship that 
exists between serum adiponectin concentration and obesity, we performed an 
electronic search on Medline, Scopus and Web of Science, using the keywords 
"migraine" and "adiponectin" with no language or date restriction to explore the 
existence of an association between serum adiponectin and migraine. According to 
our search criteria, five studies were finally included in this systematic 
review, four cross-sectional (totaling 300 patients with migraine and 177 
controls) and one interventional. Collectively, the results of our analysis 
suggest that a link between serum adiponectin and migraine remains elusive, at 
the best. The four cross-sectional studies failed to find any significant 
association, whereas the outcome of the single interventional study reported a 
rather modest variation of serum adiponectin concentration in a very limited 
sample size. Further larger studies are needed to firmly establish the existence 
of a relationship between adiponectin metabolism and migraine.