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Anxiety sensitivity and headache: diagnostic differences, impact, and relations with perceived headache triggers
Todd A Smitherman1, Rachel E Davis2, A Brooke Walters2
1Department of Psychology, University of Mississippi, USA tasmithe@olemiss.edu.
Cephalalgia : an International Journal of Headache
|October 30, 2014
Summary
Anxiety sensitivity (AS), the fear of bodily sensations, is significantly linked to headache impact and disability in young adults. Higher AS predicts greater headache-related disability, even more than depression and anxiety combined.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Pain Research
Background:
- Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is the fear of arousal-related bodily sensations due to beliefs about harmful consequences.
- AS predicts fear and avoidance in musculoskeletal pain but is understudied in headache disorders.
- This study investigates AS in young adults with migraine and tension-type headache.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate anxiety sensitivity (AS) in young adults with migraine and tension-type headache.
- To assess the relationship between AS and headache impact.
- To examine AS's association with perceived susceptibility to headache triggers.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of 2350 young adults with primary headache.
- Utilized generalized linear models and canonical correlation analyses.
- Assessed AS, headache symptomatology, disability, and trigger susceptibility.
Main Results:
- AS differentiated headache sufferers from non-sufferers, highest in chronic migraineurs and migraineurs with aura.
- AS explained 8.4% of variance in headache symptomatology, strongly linked to migraine symptoms.
- AS predicted disability and trigger perception, outperforming depression and anxiety in unique variance.
Conclusions:
- Anxiety sensitivity is a significant predictor of pain perception and adjustment in primary headache sufferers.
- AS influences the evaluation of factors affecting headache, independent of headache burden.
- Further research on AS in headache patients is recommended.
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