Habituation of sympathetic skin response in migraine and tension type headache

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the changes of habituations in the autonomic function of patients suffering from migraine or tension type headache through sympathetic skin responses. Patients with migraine without aura ( n = 26), with episodic tension type headache without migraine ( n = 28) and 30 healthy controls were studied. During continuous stimulation, four blocks of 20 responses were sequentially recorded. Mean amplitude changes in the second, third and fourth blocks are expressed as the percentages of the first block. In both headache groups, there was a lack of habituation compared to the control group.