Frequent Migraines and Obesity in Children and Adolescents (P04.261)

Objective: To estimate the magnitude of the association between overweight, moderate and extreme childhood obesity and the risk of frequent migraines in children and adolescents. Background In adults, obesity appears to increase the risk and severity of migraines. Whether a similar relationship exists in childhood is unclear. Design/Methods: Risk estimates were obtained from the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Children9s Health Study (n=913,178). Weight classes were assigned by body mass index (BMI) specific for age and sex. An electronic algorithm to identify children with frequent migraines was developed and validated. This algorithm was used to identify all children who sought care on 3 or more occasions primarily for migraines between 2006 and 2009. Results: We identified 11,469 children with frequent migraines (1.26%), the majority of which were girls (65.6%), age 12-19 (78.4%) and Hispanic (48.4%). The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals of frequent migraine with increasing weight class adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity and neighborhood education were 1.00 normal weight (reference category), 1.11 (1.05-1.17) overweight, 1.23 (1.15-1.31) moderately obese, and 1.26 (1.16-1.36) extremely obese for 12-19 year olds, respectively (p for trend Conclusions: In our population childhood obesity modestly increases the risk of frequent migraines in adolescents but not younger children. Moderately and extremely obese adolescents were 23-26% more likely than normal weight children to have frequent migraines. Our findings suggest that the childhood obesity epidemic is likely to lead to increased morbidity from migraines particularly among white, non-Hispanic teenage girls. Disclosure: Dr. Herman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Koebnick has nothing to disclose. Dr. Potrebic has nothing to disclose. Dr. Smith has nothing to disclose. Dr. Langer-Gould has nothing to disclose.