Migraines More Frequent With Increased Anxiety and Depression

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

“Headache.” by Avenue G is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Headache.” by Avenue G

Fu-Chi Yang, M.D., Ph.D.Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology,
Tri-Service General Hospital
National Defense Medical Center
Taipei, Taiwan

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Migraineurs are likely to suffer from comorbid depression and anxiety. Furthermore, increased migraine frequency is associated with an increased risk of mood/anxiety disorders. It is not distinguished by grouping frequency of migraine attacks, whether it is associated with severity scores of depression and anxiety. Thus, we evaluated the relationship between severity of depression/anxiety and migraine frequency

We mainly found that the severity of depression (BDI and HADS-depression scores) and anxiety (HADS anxiety score) were related to migraine frequency, after adjusting confounding factors.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Response: Greater headache frequency in migraineurs is associated with increased severity of anxiety and depression. Preventive migraine pharmacological treatments may reduce the risk of depression and anxiety problems in migraineurs.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: Further studies need to be done by making migraine attack and non-migraine headache distinguished, and excluding the possible effect of preventive migraine medications.

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Citation:

Chu, H.-T., Liang, C.-S., Lee, J.-T., Yeh, T.-C., Lee, M.-S., Sung, Y.-F. and Yang, F.-C. (2017), Associations Between Depression/Anxiety and Headache Frequency in Migraineurs: A Cross-Sectional Study. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain. doi:10.1111/head.13215

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/head.13215/abstract

Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions. 

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Last Updated on October 20, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD