Health status and mood state in a migraine sample

This paper is a report of the results gained from the administration of a health status questionnaire, the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), on a sample of migraine sufferers. It is argued that chronic migraine suffering is an illness that has implications for perceived health status, and that the NHP is sufficiently sensitive to detect this. The results suggest that scores on the domains of Energy, Sleep and Social Relationships are associated with respondents' mood state as measured on an established psychiatric screening device, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30). It is argued that the NHP has important uses as a survey measure of perceived ill-health in populations, and as an indicator of psychiatric morbidity.