title: Stress, Coping, and Personality in Patients with Epicrania Fugax, and Their Relation to the Clinical Characteristics of Pain.
abstract: The aim of the present work is to analyze certain psychological features in a group of patients diagnosed with Epicrania fugax (EF; that has been recently included in the appendix of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, third edition, beta version), as well as their association with diverse demographic and clinical characteristics of the sample.
  
  
  
  Case-control.
  
  
  
  Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Stress Coping (COPE), Big Five Personality Traits (NEO-FFI), Depression (BDI-II), and Trait Anxiety (STAI) were evaluated in 23 patients with EF and 23 matched healthy controls. Differences between EF patients and controls were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Differences in psychological features as a function of the demographic and clinical characteristics were examined using one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Mann-Whitney U test, or Pearson's correlations.
  
  
  
  The two groups differed significantly from each other in Denial, Trait anxiety, and Depression. Low-frequency epicrania patients scored significantly higher than controls in Perceived stress, Neuroticism, Denial, Self-blame, Trait anxiety, and Depression and higher than high-frequency EF in Venting.
  
  
  
  The results initially suggest the absence of substantial differences between patients suffering of EF and healthy controls. On the contrary, low-frequency EF patients show a distinctive "negative (unhealthy) psychological profile," in opposition to high-frequency EF patients. This circumstance highlights the potential need to consider low- frequency EF patients as a target for psychological intervention in combination with the most common medical procedures. Longitudinal studies are necessary to correctly elucidate the influence of these psychological variables on the course of EF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Surgery, Psychology, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Almudena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: López-López
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Surgery, Psychology, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: González
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ángel L
authors.initials: ÁL
authors.lastname: Guerrero
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ordás
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Valladolid University, Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Cuadrado
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Coping; Epicrania Fugax; Headache; Pain; Personality; Stress