Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/970884
A TAIWANESE STUDY FOCUSING ON MIGR AINE FREQUENCY E XPANDS ON E ARLIER RESE ARCH LINKING DEPRESSION AND ANXIE T Y TO HE ADACHES. BY TREVOR WILLINGHAM HEADACHES ARE AMONG the most common disorders of the ner vous system, according to the World Hea lth Orga nization. The mig ra ine a lone is the third most preva lent illness across the globe, a ffecting people of a ll ages, races a nd socioeconomic levels. W hile mig ra ines a re best known for the throbbing pa in that accompa nies them, they a re a lso associated with a n i nc r e a s e d r i s k of de v e lopi n g mood disorders. PREVIOUS FINDINGS Depression and anxiety are two of t he most com mon comorbid it ies associated with migraines, accord- i n g t o t h e A m e r i c a n M i g r a i n e Foundation. A ha ndf u l of st udies, i ncludi ng a 2014 st udy published in the journal Headache, have substantiated this correlation. The authors of the 2014 study conclude: " T he i nc r e a s e i n m i g r a i ne f r e quenc y was associated with progressively higher frequencies of having mood/anxiety disorders in all samples." Seeking to further defi ne the link between migraines and mood disorders, a team of researchers from the National Defense Medical Center, in Taipei, Taiwan, conducted an additional study — published in Headache in 2017. DIGGING DEEPER The goal of the 2017 study was to evaluate the relationship between the severity of depression/anxiety and migraine frequency. T h e s t u d y i n v o l v e d 5 8 8 p a t i e n t s i n a n o u t p a t i e n t hea da che cl i n ic who were eva luat ed i n relat ion t o t hei r CLARIFY MIGRAINES' Study Helps Link to Mood Disorders m i g r a i ne f requenc y, demog r aph ic d at a a nd s le ep h a b - its. Researchers controlled for potentia l confounding factors, such as sleep qua lity, employment, education a nd lifest yle habits. P a r t i c ip a n t s c o m p l e t e d q u e s t i o n - na i res i nclud i n g t he Beck Depression Inventor y (BDI), the Hospita l A n xiet y a nd Depression Sca le ( H A DS), t he Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQ I), a nd ot hers desig ned to a ssess t heir potentia l for having a mood disorder. The findings reinforced those of previ- ous studies: Pa r ticipa nts who had a hig her frequency of mig ra ine at t a ck s scored h i g her on t he BDI, PSQ I a nd H A DS — mea n- ing they were more depressed a nd a n xious. The results suggest that effec- tively addressing migraines may play a valuable role in heading off psychologica l disorders among some patients, according to Fu-Chi Yang, MD, PhD, cor- respond i n g aut hor of t he study and an investigator in the Depa r tment of Neurolog y, Tri-Ser vice Genera l Hospita l, Nationa l Defense Medica l Center. "Greater headache frequency in migra ineurs is associated with increased severity of a nxiety a nd depression," Dr. Ya ng says. " Preventive mig ra ine pha r macolog ica l treatments may reduce t he r isk of depression a nd a n x iet y problems in mig ra ineurs." Access to menta l hea lth ser vices ca n a lso prove va luable to patients coping with frequent mig ra ines, he adds. n 1 6