A new study by US scientists reveals that women who get chronic headaches or migraine are the most likely to suffer depression and other somatic symptoms like fatigue, joint pain and insomnia.
The study is published in the current edition of the journal of the American Academy of Neurology Neurology.
The research was led by Gretchen Tietjen, a neurologist at the University of Toledo Health Science Campus in Ohio. The scientists found that women who have more than 15 headaches a month are 4 times more likely to suffer depression that those who have fewer headaches, and they were 3 times more likely to have somatic symptoms like dizzy spells, feelings of nausea, back pain, aches in the joints, and fatigue.
The study is part of a larger project looking into genetic and environmental contributors to depression and migraine.
The researchers looked at 1,032 women attending headache clinics in 5 states. 593 cases related to episodic (fewer than 15 a month) headaches, and 439 to chronic (more than 15 a month). 96 per cent of the women with episodic headaches were diagnosed with migraine, and this figure was 87 per cent for the chronic headache sufferers.
The scientists also used the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-II) to categorise the headaches and related symptoms. Demographic and other symptomatic data was also recorded.
Using a computer-based method known as “logistic regression analysis” they looked to see if there were any statistically significant connections among frequency of headaches, headache-related disability, somatic symptoms and severity of depression.
The results showed that chronic headache, severe disability and high somatic symptoms were strongly linked to major depression, and this link was strongest for those who had also been diagnosed with migraine.
The researchers suggest that there may be a common psychobiological reason for the link between depression and migraine that has to do with the way the brain works. For instance pain perception could be more sensitised in women who are depressed.
The study was partly funded by the American Headache Society.
If you include the major depressive disorders such as bipolar disorder, approximately 20 million US adults suffer from depression in a given year, or about 10 per cent of the adult population.
The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that depression will be the second biggest killer after heart disease by the year 2020.
“High prevalence of somatic symptoms and depression in women with disabling chronic headache.”
G. E. Tietjen, MD, J. L. Brandes, MD, K. B. Digre, MD, S. Baggaley, MS, FNP, V. Martin, MD, A. Recober, MD, L. O. Geweke, MD, F. Hafeez, MD, S. K. Aurora, MD, N. A. Herial, MD, MPH, C. Utley, MSN, CNP and S. A. Khuder, PhD.
NEUROLOGY 2007;68:134-140
Click here for information on International Headache Classification.
Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today