The journal of headache and pain
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The comorbidity of headache and psychiatric symptoms is a well-recognized clinical phenomenon, but there are only limited data regarding the temporal relationship between headache and symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as behavioral problems in adolescents. This study investigates the relationship of anxiety and depressive symptoms and behavioral problems at baseline with recurrent headache at follow-up four years later. ⋯ Results from the present study showed that symptoms of anxiety and depression in early adolescence were associated with recurrent headache four years later. Recognizing anxiety and depressive symptoms should be considered part of the clinical assessment in young headache patients, as early identification of these associated factors may lead to improved headache management.
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A lack of habituation of different evoked potential modalities in migraine patients in-between attacks has been suggested. ⋯ Our findings can be primarily deemed to demonstrate that patients and healthy controls show significantly lower amplitudes while performing the calculation task. Without performing the calculation task we could not show the expected lack of habituation in migraineurs. Yet, while performing the calculation task our results partly suggest that hypothesis.
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Primary headache disorders are among the commonest disorders, affecting people in all countries. India appears to be no exception, although reliable epidemiological data on headache in this highly populous country are not available. Such information is needed for health-policy purposes. Our aim was to estimate the prevalence of each of the headache disorders of public-health importance, and examine their sociodemographic associations, in urban and rural populations of Karnataka, south India. ⋯ There is a very high 1 year prevalence of migraine in south India (the mean global prevalence is estimated at 14.7%). Explanations probably lie in cultural, lifestyle and/or environmental factors, although the observed associations with female gender and rural dwelling are usual. Levels of TTH, pMOH and other headache on ≥15 days/month are similar to global averages, while the very strong association of pMOH with female gender requires explanation. Until another study is conducted in the north of the country, these are the best data available for health policy in a population of over 1.2 billion people.
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Patients suffering from migraine with aura can have either pure visual auras or complex auras with sensory disturbances and dysphasia, or both. Few studies have searched for possible pathophysiological differences between these two subgroups of patients. ⋯ Our findings suggest that in migraine with aura patients different aura phenotypes may be underpinned by different pathophysiological mechanisms. Pre-activation cortical excitability could be higher in patients with complex neurological auras than in those having pure visual auras or in healthy volunteers.
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Data on the characteristics of Medication Overuse Headache (MOH) in Latin American (LA) are scarce. Here we report the demographic and clinical features of the MOH patients from Argentina and Chile enrolled in the multinational COMOESTAS project in the period 2008-2010. ⋯ Though little described, MOH is present also in LA, where it affects mostly women, in the most active decades of life. Some differences emerge as regards the demographic and clinical characteristics of MOH in this population as compared to Europe or Northern America. What seems more worrying about MOH in Argentina and Chile is that most patients overuse ergotamine, a drug that may cause serious adverse events when used chronically. These findings once more underscore the importance of properly diagnose and treat MOH.