Effects of Perceived Social Support, Depression and Anxiety Levels on Migraine

The aim of the current study was to assess the levels of anxiety and depression and to determine relationships between perceived social support and other factors in migraine patients and to compare with the control group.

The study was a cross-sectional study with 37 migraine patients and 40 control patients. The diagnosis of migraine was established according to the International Headache Society criteria. Patients completed a questionnaire comprised of sociodemographic characteristics, migraine severity (frequency and visual analogue scale score) and scales which are used for the determination of depression, anxiety and social support.

Correlation analyses revealed that Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores were positively correlated with anxiety scores; however, they were not correlated with the clinical characteristics of migraine. Whereas, anxiety scores were correlated with the number of days with migraine pain and the number of migraine attacks in a month. However, VAS scores were not correlated with anxiety scores. Furthermore, social support scores were found to be negatively correlated with depression and anxiety scores. In the migraine group, median BDI score was 10.0 (0.0-44.0), median STAI score was 81.0 (44.0-131.0), in the control group, median BDI score was 6.0 (0.0-24.0), median STAI score was 75.0 (62.0-95.0). BDI, STAI-Trait and STAI-Total scores were higher in the migraine group than in the control group. The MSPSS score was found to be lower in the migraine group than in the control group.

Depression and anxiety scores higher in the migraine group than control group. We believe our results support the suggestion that anxiety and depression are associated with migraine. Additionally, social support may be critical in the prevention or reduction of migraine attacks as it was found to affect the anxiety and depression scores of patients with migraine.