An Internet-based study on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown on migraine in India.

Abstract

ObjectivesTo assess the impact of lockdown during the COVID‐19 pandemic on migraine patients in India on disease activity, healthcare accessibility, and quality of life (QoL).Materials & MethodsThis internet‐based survey study using a structured questionnaire was conducted from 27th April to 31st July 2020. Previous physician‐diagnosed migraine patients or those fulfilling any two of three clinical features (limitation of activities for >1 day, associated nausea or vomiting, and photophobia or phonophobia) were diagnosed as migraine patients. QoL was captured using a Likert scale and determinants of poor QoL were identified by logistic regression.ResultsA total of 4078 persons completed the full survey out of which 984 (24.1%) had migraine (mean age 35.3 ±11.2). Compared to pre‐lockdown, 51.3% of migraineurs reported worsening of their headaches in terms of increased attack frequency (95.6%), increased headache days (95%), increased attack duration (89.9%) and increased headache severity (88.1%). The worsening was attributed to anxiety due to the pandemic (79.7%), inability or difficulty to access healthcare (48.4%) and migraine medicines (48.9%), and financial worries (60.9%). 26.8% of migraineurs reported poor QoL compared to 7.37% of non‐migraineurs [p<0.0001]. Migraine affected QoL in 61.4% of migraineurs. The predictors of poor QoL on logistic regression included worsening migraine during the lockdown (AOR 4.150; CI 2.704‐ 6.369) and difficulty accessing migraine medicines (AOR 4.549; CI 3.041‐ 6.805). Employment as an essential COVID‐19 worker (AOR 0.623; CI 0.409‐ 0.950) protected against poor QoL.ConclusionsCOVID‐19 pandemic‐related lockdown greatly impacted migraine patients in India which significantly reduced their QoL.