Low-Frequency Episodic Migraine with Aura and Associated Hypertension in Overweight Postmenopausal Women: Interplay of Serum Interleukin-6 and Vitamin D

Background and Objectives: Studies in hypertension (HTN), migraine (MIG) and HTN associated MIG (HMIG) in women present a link between vascular disorders and migraine. However, there are controversial findings yet for the important factors involved in overweight (OW) women with HTN and HMIG in postmenopause (PMP). Therefore, we planned to investigate the interactive role of body mass index (BMI) based serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and vitamin D (VitD) in PMP women with HTN, and low frequency episodic MIG and HMIG with aura. Materials and Methods: The subject groups of normal weight normotensives (NW-NTN), OW-NTN, NW-HTN, OW-HTN, NW-MIG, OW-MIG, NW-HMIG and OW-HMIG in PMP women (n:1008) were studied for investigating the BMI based variations and associations of IL-6 and VitD. Age range in each PMP women group (n:126) was 51-60 years. BMI range respectively in NW and OW participants was ≥ 18.5 - ≤ 24.9 and ≥ 25 - ≤29.9 kg/m2. Results: Among groups variations indicated highly significant change in serum IL-6 and VitD. The post hoc Tukey Kramer test for HTN groups indicated significant increased VitD in OW-HTN compared to OW-NTN and NW-HTN, and significantly increased IL-6 in OW-HTN compared to OW-NTN and NW-HTN as well as OW-NTN compared to NW-NTN. Significant increased IL-6 was obtained in OW-MIG compared to NW-MIG and OW-HTN, NW-HMIG compared to NW-NTN, and OW-HMIG compared to OW-MIG, NW-HMIG and OW-NTN. The multiple linear regression indicated collective significant effect among BMI, IL-6, and VitD in OW-HTN, NW-MIG, OW-MIG, NW-HMIG and OW-HMIG. BMI and IL-6 presented significant inverse association with VitD in these groups. The remaining groups presented non-significant effect. Conclusion: Current study shows significant role of serum IL-6 and VitD in HTN and low-frequency episodic MIG and HMIG especially with OW status in PMP women. BMI based significant variation and negative association of IL-6 with vitamin D in HTN, and low-frequency episodic MIG and HMIG with aura in the present report provides evidence of the pathophysiological impact of IL-6 and vitamin D in HTN, and episodic MIG and HMIG.