Abstract
BackgroundTo identify aggression and its association with suicidality in migraine patients.MethodsWe enrolled 144 migraine patients who made their first visit to our headache clinic. We collected data regarding their clinical characteristics and the patients completes the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) and other questionnaires. We also interviewed patients with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview—Plus Version 5.0.0 (MINI) to identify their suicidality. The degree of aggression in migraine patients was compared to the degree of aggression in healthy controls. Major determinants for aggression and its association with suicidality were also examined.ResultsThe overall AQ score and anger and hostility subscale scores were higher in migraine patients than controls. For migraine chronicity, patients with chronic migraine (CM) had a higher overall AQ score and physical aggression, anger, and hostility subscale scores than controls. On the other hand, all AQ scores in patients with episodic migraine were not different from the scores of the controls. Although several factors were associated with the overall AQ score, major determinants were anxiety (ß = 0.395, p < 0.001), headache intensity (ß = 0.180, p = 0.016), and CM (ß = − 0.165, p = 0.037). Patients who had suicidality based on the MINI showed a higher overall AQ score than patients without suicidality (p < 0.001).ConclusionsAggression is likely to be a common feature in CM. Comorbid aggression may help to identify suicidality in migraine patients.
Highlights
IntroductionMigraine is a disabling neurological disorder due to recurrent attacks of headache and accompanying psychosomatic symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and fatigue [1,2,3]
To identify aggression and its association with suicidality in migraine patients
In chronic migraine (CM) patients, mean scores of the overall Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), physical aggression, anger, and hostility were significantly higher than the scores of the controls (p < 0.05 for physical aggression, p < 0.01 for the overall AQ score, anger and hostility)
Summary
Migraine is a disabling neurological disorder due to recurrent attacks of headache and accompanying psychosomatic symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and fatigue [1,2,3]. These symptoms restrict daily activities, heighten mortality, impair quality of life and increase the social burden [1, 3, 4]. 10% of people affected by BPD kill themselves [13] Due to these reasons, the existence of aggression is likely to be an important issue in migraine patients. The nature of aggression in migraine patients has been underrecognized and has not been examined systematically
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