MedWire News: Children who are overweight or obese tend to experience more frequent migraines and other types of headache than their normal weight counterparts, study results show.

But the findings also show that children who are overweight or obese can reduce the frequency of their headaches by losing weight.

"Headache and obesity are both common conditions in children and adults [and] research in adults has suggested a relationship between the two conditions," explain Dr Andrew Hershey, from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, USA and team.

However, they add: "This relationship has not yet been explored within a paediatric population."

To address this, the team studied 913 children who were being treated for migraines and other types of headache at seven centres in the USA.

The team examined data on the children's body mass indexes and headache frequency, as well as disability caused by headaches, over a 6-month period.

They found that body mass index was significantly linked to headache frequency in the children. Indeed, a higher body mass index was associated with more frequent headaches and levels of disability.

However, overweight or obese children who lost weight over the course of the study experienced a reduction in the frequency of their headaches. But weight loss did not appear to reduce levels of disability caused by headaches.

"Obesity is associated with headache frequency and disability in the paediatric headache population," Dr Hershey and team summarise in the journal Headache.

They add: "For children who are overweight, weight loss can contribute to a reduction in headaches over time.

"Clinicians should consider child weight status in providing care for paediatric headache [patients]."