[Personality traits in patients with migraine: a multi-centre study using the Salamanca screening questionnaire]

Psychiatric comorbidity is frequent in cases of migraine and research has focused more on that related to affective disorders and anxiety than to personality traits.

To study the presence of personality traits in persons with migraine and how they are related with the presence of chronic migraine or medication abuse.

Patients attended consecutively in five centres were evaluated. The 22 questions in the Salamanca screening questionnaire were used to explore 11 personality traits classified in three groups. Data were obtained concerning demographic characteristics and the impact of migraine.

The sample used in the study included 164 patients (134 females and 30 males), with a mean age of 36.6 ± 12.5 years (range: 18-78 years). In most patients, the impact of migraine was high. The personality traits that appeared most frequently were: anxious (53.7%), anankastic (44.5%), histrionic (40.9%) and dependent (32.9%). The risk of chronic migraine was higher in patients with the anankastic trait (relative risk = 2.06; confidence interval at 95% = 1.07-3.94; p = 0.027).

Some of the personality traits that can be detected with the Salamanca questionnaire are very common in patients with migraine. In our series, the anankastic trait is related with the presence of chronic migraine.