Background:
Depression is a frequent comorbid condition among migraine patients. Nad medication overuse is relatively common among patients with frequent headaches. The aim of our study was to determine the relationship between depression, number of days with headache per month and the number of used medications.
Patients and methods:
Sixty-six patients (54 women – mean age 42 years and 8 men – mean age 42 years) with migraine (without or with aura, MO, MA) or tension-type headache (TTH) have been included into the study. MO, MA and TTH were diagnosed according to the ICHD-2 criteria. All patients fulfilled the Beck depression score which classifies depression from 1–13 as minimal (group A), 14–19 as mild (group B), 20–28 as moderate (group C) and 29–63 as severe (group D). Days with headache and the number of medications (analgesics and triptans) was obtained from all patients.
Results:
There were 30 patients in group A, 17 in B, 10 in C and 9 in group D. The mean depression score was 7,4; 14.9; 23.1 and 42.1 respectively. There were 41 patients with MO, 10 with MA, 5 with TTH and 5 with MO/MA + TTH. The mean number of days with headache was 11.7 in group A; 11.2 in B;16 in C and 12.5 in D. The mean number of analgesics and triptans used was 24.8 in group A; 25.5 in B; 35.9 in C and 43.5 in D. Although the number of days with headache per month has not significantly differed among groups, patients with moderate and severe depression take more medications for their headaches, P < 0.05.
Conclusions:
Results of our study showed that patients with higher depression score are more likely to use a higher number of acute medications for their headaches, although the number of days with headache is similar. Our results support earlier observations that medication overuse headache is a part of the spectrum of addictive disorders.
