Migraine Headaches: The Predictive Role of Anger and Emotional Intelligence

Research has shown that emotional intelligence and anger are significant predictors of both subjective and objective health. The present study aimed to draw a comparison between migraine patients and healthy individuals in terms of emotional intelligence and anger. In addition, there was an attempt to investigate the predictive role of emotional intelligence and anger in chronic migraine.

This comparative study was carried out on 494 individuals including patients with chronic migraine (n=250) and healthy controls (n=244) in Shiraz between August 2019 and February 2020. The participants with chronic migraine and healthy controls were selected using convenience sampling and multistage sampling, respectively. Participants completed validated self-report questionnaires: Bradberry and Greaves emotional intelligence test and the provocation inventory. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 22.0) and chi-square test, t test and logistic regression were used. The significance level was set at P<0.05.

The results of independent t-test indicated that the mean intensity of anger was significantly higher among the patients with migraine (51.52±15.66) compared to the healthy controls (28.39±9.85) (P<0.001). The mean score of emotional intelligence was significantly lower among the patients with migraine (75.92±8.23) in comparison to the healthy controls (116.23±12.28) (P<0.001). Binary logistic regression revealed that neither age (P=0.72), sex (P=0.62), marital status (P=0.63) and education level (P=0.68), nor anger (P=0.24) was significantly associated with chronic migraine. However, emotional intelligence had a negative association with chronic migraine (B=-1.13, OR=0.32, P<0.001).

The results showed that a low level of emotional intelligence was associated with chronic migraine. The current results could help clinicians in planning for successful pain management/prevention programs.