Investigation of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with migraine

Abstract

A migraine is not just a headache. Migraines are characterized by the co-occurrence of various systemic changes and known to be associated with many psychiatric disorders in the interictal period, especially major depression and anxiety disorders. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in patients with migraines is relatively less studied. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms were investigated in consecutive patients with a diagnosis of migraine and compared with that of a control group of healthy individuals. The relationship of these symptoms with the defined clinical features of migraine was analyzed. 74 patients and 36 controls were included in this study. Patients were chosen from those admitted with headache complaints to the Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Headache Outpatient Clinics between December 2010-March 2012. A headache specialist diagnosed all patients with migraine using the International Headache Society criteria.. The Yale Brown Obsessive and Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) was used to score OCD symptoms in all participants. In comparing Y-BOCS total scores between the migraine patients and the control group, we found a statistically significant difference (z(109)= -3.100, p<0.05). Furthermore, both the Y-BOCS obsession and compulsion sub-scores were significantly different between the groups. The duration, frequency and side of migraine did not have any correlation with our findings. In conclusion, our study suggested that migraine sufferers tend to have higher obsessive and compulsive symptoms. These findings could be based on genetic changes and/or functional differences in the brain.