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Published on: June 2, 2014
Migraine headaches are not associated with a unique depressive symptom profile: results from the Baltimore
Amanda Kalaydjian1, William Eaton, Peter Zandi
1Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. kalaydjiana@mail.nih.gov
Objective:
There is a well-established link between migraine headaches and depression. However, it is unclear whether individuals with migraine experience a unique profile of depressive symptoms in comparison to individuals without migraine.
Methods:
This question was addressed using data from the Baltimore cohort of the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study. The cross-sectional association between migraine headaches and each depressive symptom was calculated using logistic regression, and symptom profiles among those with migraine headaches (n=249) and those without (n=1480) were compared using generalized estimating equations.
Results:
Migraine headaches were associated with increased odds of reporting seven of nine depressive symptom groups by a factor of roughly 2. However, when the symptom profiles were compared, individuals with migraine headaches did not differ in their profile of symptoms.
Conclusion:
These results suggest that individuals with migraine headaches are more likely to report depressive symptoms but do not display a unique profile of symptoms.
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