A new study has shown how weight loss injections appear to reduce migraine attacks for women – but scientists still don’t fully understand why
Weight loss jabs appear to prevent migraines in women according to new research.
Women who started the appetite-suppressing injections needed drugs to tackle debilitating migraine attacks less often in a national study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul.
Experts gathered to hear how Danish health registry data shows women on jabs needed triptan drugs – the first line treatment for migraine to ease symptoms – 8% less often. The study showed the biggest effect in those aged 18 to 35 who cut triptan use by 18%.
Scientists analysed data on all 150,000 people in the country who started taking Wegovy or Ozempic between 2022 and 2024. No significant reduction in migraine drug use was seen in men.
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Researchers suspect the injections, which mimic the hormone GLP-1, could help reduce migraines because of their anti-inflammatory properties. They said jabs may even have direct effects on the central nervous system that influence “migraine pathways”.
Around ten million Brits suffer with debilitating migraines with women more affected. Around two million rely on triptans. Symptoms can include severe throbbing pain, nausea, vomiting, tiredness as well as extreme sensitivity to light, sounds and smells. Attacks can last for days.
The new study was sponsored by drugmaker Novo Nordisk which makes semaglutide, marketed as Wegovy, which is prescribed on the NHS for weight loss, and Ozempic, prescribed for Type 2 diabetes. Seven out of ten participants were women and they had an average age of 50.
Study author Noémie Roland, assistant professor at the University of Southern Denmark, said: “The study suggests that initiation of semaglutide is associated with a gradual reduction in triptan use during the first year after initiation among women.
“We need confirmation in randomised clinical studies to confirm whether semaglutide has a direct anti-migraine effect beyond the weight loss.
“There could be a potential direct effect on the central nervous system, so on the inflammation that occurs in the migraine pathways. GLP-1 agonist [drugs] could have an anti-inflammatory effect on that.”
Researchers compared triptan use two years before people started taking weight loss jabs with triptan use a year after they started on the weekly injections.
Reliance on triptans to manage migraines fell gradually rather than immediately after people started on jabs.
Rob Music, chief executive at the Migraine Trust, said: “Migraine is two to three times more common in women than men and can be linked to hormonal fluctuations.
“Like many conditions that disproportionately affect women, migraine is often overlooked and not taken as seriously as it should be, which can limit access to existing treatments and research into new ones.
“While the initial findings of this new study suggest the potential for GLP-1s to alleviate migraine symptoms in women, we recognise the need for further research in this area.”
