[Autonomic dysfunction in migraine und tension-type headache--pilot study]

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction in migraine has been hypothesized during the last years. However, the pathophysiological relevance of this dysfunction on the etiology and the maintenance of the headaches remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate connections between the ANS dysfunction and the clinical appearances of the pain and its processing in migraine and tension-type headache (TTH).

Ten migraine-patients (31,4+/-10,6 years) and ten TTH-patients (49,3+/-14,6 years) underwent a cardiovascular reflex testing during headache-free intervals. A questionnaire was obtained to determine the patients' clinical pain-symptoms.

The ANS function testings showed sympathetic hypofunction in both groups of patients. In the migraine-group, there was a significant correlation between the pain-intensity and the extent of the autonomic dysfunction (r=0,82) In the TTH-group, we found a correlation between the results of the orthostatic test and the v. Zerssen-depression-scale (r=0.69).

These results suggest a sympathetic dysfunction in both headache-syndromes and suggest that the ANS plays an important role on the pathophysiology and the maintenance of the headaches.