Hyperlipidemia in migraine: Is it more frequent in migraineurs?

Background: Some coincidental disorders with migraine have been introduced that may have role in its pathogenesis or aggravation. In this study we determined the relative frequency of hyperlipidemia as a coincidental disorder in patients affected by migraine. Methods: A total of 102 migraine-affected patients according to International Headache Society (HIS) criteria and 103 control subjects adjusted for age participated in this case-control study. Their serum level of triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured. Results: A total of 84 women and 18 men with mean age of 34.9 ± 11.8 years and 79 women and 24 men with mean age of 32.8 ± 5.7 years constituted case and control groups, respectively. The means of serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C levels in case and control groups were 177.0 ± 118.2 versus 108.7 ± 37.2 mg/dl (P = 0.0001), 186.2 ± 44.1 versus 152.9 ± 3.7 mg/dl (P = 0.0001), 49.9 ± 12.5 versus 46.1 ± 10.7 mg/dl (P = 0.023) and 104.8 ± 33.7 versus 84.1 ± 34.0 mg/dl (P = 0.0001), respectively. The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia in case and control groups were 41.2% versus 18.4 % (P = 0.0001), and 36.3% versus 9.7% (P = 0.0001). According to multivariate analysis, odds ratios were 3.11 (95% CI: 1.4 -6.6) and 17.4 (95% CI: 2.12-138.3), respectively. Odds ratio for low HDL-C was 0.2 (95% CI: 0.08-0.49). Conclusion: Hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia were more frequent in migraineurs. Conversely, low HDL-C was less frequent among the patients compared with non-migraineurs.