Cluster headache suicidality: a systematic review with a meta-analysis

Suicide is considered as common in patients with cluster headache (CH) and is defined as 'suicidal headache'. However, the exact level of suicidality is not known and is intuitively assumed to be correlated with the CH severity.

This work is a systematic review of data accessible through PubMed and published up to July 25, focusing on the suicidality of CH according to the rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. This meta-analysis was carried out with all selected studies then by considering studies with specialized recruitment and studies with non-specialized recruitment. A qualitative analysis was performed to identify determinants of CH suicidality.

Among the 53 publications identified, 12 were selected corresponding to 10 studies. These selected studies included a total of 34180 subjects (range 75-24131). Eight were performed in a specialized field (headache tertiary center, neurology clinic or via CH patients' association) and 2 in a non-specialized field (via heath registry). The overall rate of suicidal ideation in CH was estimated at 8.0% (95%CI [7.7; 8.3] and overall rate of suicide attempts in CH was estimated at 1.2% (95%CI [1.1; 1.3]). In a non-specialized field, these rates were estimated at 5.2% (95%CI [4.9; 5.4]) and 1.1% (95%CI [1.0; 1.2]) respectively. In specialized field, these rates were estimated at 44.6% (95%CI [42.7; 46.6]) and 5.1% (95%CI [3.9; 6.7]) respectively. The qualitative analysis showed that few determinants have been considered but it appears that the risk is greater during CH attacks, and it involves psychological determinants such as demoralization.

The overall suicidal risk in CH does not appear to be higher than that of the general population, but there is a suicidal risk increase among CH patients followed up in specialized field. This higher risk is indeed probably related to the severity of CH in terms of pain, but it is also probably related to other factors such as impulsive aggressiveness during CH attacks and psychological factors such as demoralization.

The systematic review protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on 07/22/2025 (number: CRD420251110095).