Association Between Migraine Comorbidity and Psychiatric Symptoms Among People With Newly Diagnosed Focal Epilepsy.

Authors

• Olivia Begasse De Dhaem
• Sandra India Aldana
• Andres Miguel Kanner
• Michael Sperling
• Jacqueline French
• Siddhartha S Nadkarni
• Omotola A Hope
• Terry O'Brien
• Chris Morrison
• Melodie Winawer
• Mia T Minen

Publication/Presentation Date

1-1-2022

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about psychiatric symptoms among patients with migraine and newly diagnosed focal epilepsy. The investigators compared symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidality among people with newly diagnosed focal epilepsy with migraine versus without migraine.

METHODS: The Human Epilepsy Project is a prospective multicenter study of patients with newly diagnosed focal epilepsy. Depression (measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), anxiety (measured with the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale), and suicidality scores (measured with the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale [C-SSRS]) were compared between participants with versus without migraine. Data analysis was performed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality assessment, the Mann-Whitney U test, chi-square test, and linear regression.

RESULTS: Of 349 patients with new-onset focal epilepsy, 74 (21.2%) had migraine. There were no differences between the patients without migraine versus those with migraine in terms of age, race, and level of education. There were more women in the group with migraine than in the group without migraine (75.7% vs. 55.6%, p=0.0018). The patients with epilepsy and comorbid migraine had more depressive symptoms than the patients with epilepsy without migraine (35.2% vs. 22.7%, p=0.031). Patients with epilepsy with comorbid migraine had more anxiety symptoms than patients with epilepsy without migraine, but this relation was mediated by age in logistic regression, with younger age being associated with anxiety. Comorbid migraine was not associated with C-SSRS ideation or behavior.

CONCLUSIONS: Among a sample of patients with newly diagnosed focal epilepsy, 21.2% had migraine. Migraine comorbidity was associated with higher incidence of depressive symptoms. Future studies should be performed to better assess these relationships and possible treatment implications.

Volume

34

Issue

2

First Page

182

Last Page

187

ISSN

1545-7222

Published In/Presented At

Begasse De Dhaem, O., Aldana, S. I., Kanner, A. M., Sperling, M., French, J., Nadkarni, S. S., Hope, O. A., O'Brien, T., Morrison, C., Winawer, M., & Minen, M. T. (2022). Association Between Migraine Comorbidity and Psychiatric Symptoms Among People With Newly Diagnosed Focal Epilepsy. The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 34(2), 182–187. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.21050124

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

34961330

Department(s)

Department of Medicine

Document Type

Article