Evaluation of the dietary and non-dietary triggers, dietary patterns and diet quality of migrainous women in Ahvaz

Abstract

Background and aim: Migraine is a neurological disorder that usually occurs with unilateral pulsating headaches. Recent studies indicate the potential effects of dietary composition, dietary intake patterns and diet quality on the incidence and severity of migraine attacks. But studies on the effect of overall diet on migraine are very limited. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the importance of dietary and environmental triggers, extraction of main dietary patterns and assessing the diet quality of women with migraine in Ahvaz. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 300 volunteer women with migraine were recruited based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. All the patients were diagnosed by neurologist. Demographic characteristics, haracteristics of migraine and medical history were collected by questionnaires through face to face interviews. The prevalent trigger factors was assessed through a designed and validated questionnaire. Dietary intakes of participants over the last year were collected using a reliable and valid 147 items FFQ through face-to-face interviews. Major trigger factors and dietary patterns were extracted using factor analysis. Diet duality of participants was assessed using Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015). Results: The mean ± SD of energy intake per day was 3140.8 ± 109.39 kcal which was significantly higher than the needed calculated values (P <0.001). Six major factors were extracted among triggers including: the "seasoning", "environmental factors", "nitrate, tyramine and caffeine containing foods", "alliums", ”Fats" and "dairy and cold foods". Two main dietary patterns were identified in the participants. The first dietary pattern, entitled "Western pattern," included high consumption of carbonated beverages, roasted and salted nuts, processed meats, fast food and unhealthy snack foods, and the second dietary pattern, entitled "healthy pattern" included high consumption of fruits, fish, pickled vegetables , vegetables and legumes. The women with high adherence to “Western pattern” had significantly higher frequency of migraine attacks (OR= 0.88, 95%CI: [0.42 - 1.82], P trend = 0.02) and the women with high adherence to “healthy pattern” had significantly lower migraine attack frequency (OR= 0.98, 95%CI: [0.45 -