Negative effects of accompanying psychiatric disturbances on functionality among adolescents with chronic migraine

Anxiety and depressive symptoms and migraine-related outcomes in children and adolescents

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to explore the longitudinal relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms and migraine outcomes in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND

Children and adolescents with migraine experience more anxiety and depressive symptoms than their peers without migraine, but it is unknown if these symptoms are associated with differential migraine outcomes.

METHODS

In this prospective clinical cohort study, children and adolescents aged 8.0-18.0 years with migraine completed headache questionnaires and validated measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) at an initial consultation and at their first follow-up visit with a neurologist. Changes in monthly headache frequency and changes in migraine-related disability (Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment) were tracked at each time point. The relationships between these migraine outcomes and anxiety and depressive symptoms were estimated using models controlling for sex, age, headache frequency, and treatment type.

RESULTS

There were 123 consenting participants. In models adjusted for age, sex, baseline disability score, and treatment type, baseline anxiety and depressive symptom levels were not significantly associated with change in headache frequency (for anxiety symptoms: β = -0.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.268 to 0.166, p = 0.639; for depressive symptoms: β = 0.14, 95% CI = -0.079 to 0.359, p = 0.209). Similarly, in models adjusted for age, sex, baseline headache frequency, and treatment type, the change in disability was not associated with baseline anxiety (β = -0.45, 95% CI = -1.69 to 0.78, p = 0.470), nor with baseline depressive symptom scores (β = 0.16, 95% CI = -1.07 to 1.40, p = 0.796). In post hoc exploratory analyses (N = 84 with anxiety and N = 82 with depressive symptom data at both visits), there were also no significant associations between change in mental health symptoms and change in headache frequency (for anxiety symptoms: β = -0.084, 95% CI = -0.246 to 0.078, p = 0.306; for depressive symptoms: β = -0.013, 95% CI = -0.164 to 0.138, p = 0.865). Similarly, the change in disability scores between visits was not related to the change in anxiety (β = 0.85, 95% CI = -0.095 to 1.78, p = 0.077) nor depressive symptom scores (β = 0.32, 95% CI = -0.51 to 1.15, p = 0.446).

CONCLUSION

Baseline anxiety and depressive symptom levels were not associated with longitudinal migraine outcomes and neither were longitudinal changes in anxiety and depressive symptom levels; this contradicts popular clinical belief that mental health symptoms predict or consistently change in tandem with migraine outcomes.

[Gender-specific results of the Dresden children and adolescents headache program DreKiP]

BACKGROUND

Girls and women are more frequently affected by headache than boys and men. The influence of gender on the effectiveness of headache therapies has so far been hardly investigated. We examined gender differences in the outpatient multimodal Dresden Child and Adolescent Headache Program DreKiP.

METHODS

We treated 140 patients with primary headache in a 15-hour structured group program. At baseline (T0) and six (T1) and twelve months (T2) after the end of the program, data on headache-related limitation of daily activities (PedMIDAS) as well as headache frequency, intensity, and pain-related disability (P-PDI) were collected. Retrospectively, these data were analyzed separately for girls and boys.

RESULTS

For 91 patients (9-19 years, median = 15; 71.4 % female) data were available for at least two measurement time points. Girls showed significantly higher headache frequency than boys at all time points (median headache days/last three months at T0: ♀ 43, ♂ 20; T1: ♀ 32, ♂ 12; T2: ♀ 28, ♂ 9) as well as numerically higher headache-related limitation of daily life. There were significant effects over time with a decrease in headache frequency (F (2.88) = 5.862; p = 0.004) and improvement in daily functioning (F (2.92) = 5.340; p = 0.006). There was no gender-specific treatment response.

DISCUSSION

The DreKiP therapy shows effects in girls and boys with primary headache. Higher headache frequencies and everyday life restrictions in girls may have hormonal but also psychosocial causes and should be addressed in educational measures.

Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms and Disorders in Children and Adolescents With Migraine: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Importance

Though it is presumed that children and adolescents with migraine are at risk of internalizing symptoms and disorders, high-level summative evidence to support this clinical belief is lacking.

Objective

To determine if there is an association between internalizing symptoms and disorders and migraine in children and adolescents.

Data Sources

A librarian-led, peer-reviewed search was performed using MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases (inception to March 28, 2022).

Study Selection

Case-control, cohort, and cross-sectional studies on the association between internalizing symptoms and disorders and migraine in children and adolescents 18 years or younger were eligible.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Two investigators independently completed abstract and full-text screening, data extraction, and quality appraisal using the Newcastle-Ottawa scales. Studies were pooled with random-effects meta-analyses using standardized mean differences (SMD) or odds ratios (OR) with 95% CIs. Where sufficient data for pooling were unavailable, studies were described qualitatively.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The primary outcome was migraine diagnosis; additional outcomes included migraine outcomes and incidence. Associations between these outcomes and internalizing symptoms and disorders were evaluated.

Results

The study team screened 4946 studies and included 80 studies in the systematic review. Seventy-four studies reported on the association between internalizing symptoms and disorders and migraine, and 51 studies were amenable to pooling. Meta-analyses comparing children and adolescents with migraine with healthy controls showed: (1) an association between migraine and anxiety symptoms (SMD, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.64-1.63); (2) an association between migraine and depressive symptoms (SMD, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.46-0.87); and (3) significantly higher odds of anxiety disorders (OR, 1.93, 95% CI, 1.49-2.50) and depressive disorders (OR, 2.01, 95% CI, 1.46-2.78) in those with, vs without, migraine. Stratification of results did not reveal differences between clinical vs community/population-based samples and there was no evidence of publication bias. Twenty studies assessing the association between internalizing symptoms or disorders and migraine outcomes (n = 18) or incident migraine (n = 2) were summarized descriptively given significant heterogeneity, with minimal conclusions drawn.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this study, children and adolescents with migraine were at higher risk of anxiety and depression symptoms and disorders compared with healthy controls. It may be beneficial to routinely screen children and adolescents with migraine for anxiety and depression in clinical practice. It is unclear whether having anxiety and depressive symptoms or disorders has an affect on migraine outcomes or incidence.