Adolescents with chronic migraine commonly exhibit depressive symptoms.
Psychiatric comorbidity in patients with headache contributes to poorer prognosis, chronification of disease, poor response to treatment, increased cost of treatment, and decreased quality of life. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the depressive symptoms in adolescents with chronic and episodic migraines and healthy adolescents. The study was performed between November 2010 and November 2011. All patients completed a detailed headache questionnaire comprising of demographical and clinical data and were instructed to fill out a headache diary over a 2-month period. The subjects ranged in age from 13 to 19 years. To evaluate depression symptoms, all of the subjects were asked to fill out the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). A total of 137 participants were evaluated; 44 had episodic migraine (EM), 46 had chronic migraine (CM) and 47 were control subjects. Patients with a history of chronic migraine had significantly higher scores on the BDI than the other participants. Patients with chronic migraine had BDI scores that were 8.8 points higher than controls [95 % CI (β) = 5.0, 12.6] and 5.8 points higher than patients with EM [95 % CI (β) = 2.2, 9.4]. The main finding of this study was that chronic migraine is strongly associated with depression symptoms, regardless of demographic data. Comorbid depression may increase the total burden of migraine and diagnosis and treatment of depression in adolescents with migraine is likely to result in a better prognosis.
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Federal University of São Paulo, Botucatu Street 720, São Paulo, 04023-900, Brazil.
Juliana Harumi
JH
Arita
Jaime
J
Lin
Ricardo Silva
RS
Pinho
Thais Soares Cianciarullo
TS
Minett
Maria Sylvia
MS
de Souza Vitalle
Mauro
M
Fisberg
Mario Fernando Prieto
MF
Peres
Luiz Celso Pereira
LC
Vilanova
Marcelo Rodrigues
MR
Masruha
D000293:Adolescent; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult