Insulin Metabolism is Altered in Migraineurs: A New Pathogenic Mechanism for Migraine?

Background.— Migraine is a complex biochemical dysfunction attributed to a disorder of the trigeminal and hypothalamic pathways. Impairment of glucose metabolism has been reported in migraine, but data are scanty and inconsistent. Objective.— The main aim was to verify whether migraineurs have abnormalities of the glucose and insulin metabolism.We also studied correlations between blood glucose and insulin and between insulin levels and migraine severity. Patients and methods.— Patients with migraine or headache other than migraine, and healthy volunteers were included. All had general blood tests and a standard oral glucose tolerance test after a 12-hour fast, and glucose and insulin were measured. Results.— Over a 6-month period, we recruited 84 migraineurs (73 women, 11 men), 25 patients with nonmigraine headache (20 women, 5 men), and 26 healthy controls (24 women, 2 men). Multivariate analysis confirmed a significant difference between groups for glucose levels (P