Factors associated with acute medication overuse in chronic migraine patients

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in patients diagnosed with chronic migraine with and without acute medication overuse. Methods: Seventy-two volunteers were recruited from a Family Health Program of the Paraisopolis community in Sao Paulo (SP), Brazil. These patients were submitted to a detailed headache questionnaire. All participants were submitted to physical and neurological examinations. The following variables were analyzed: age, gender, education level, body mass index, type of overused medication, headache characteristics, and caffeine consumption, lifetime anxiety and mood disorders. Results: Out of 72 patients, 50 (69%) had chronic migraine with medication overuse, and 22 (31%) had chronic migraine without medication overuse. Factors such as age, gender, education level, body mass index, type of overused medication, headache characteristics, and caffeine consumption were not significantly different between the two studied groups. Lifetime anxiety and mood disorders were more common in patients with acute medication overuse (p = 0.003 and p = 0.045, respectively). Conclusion: This study has shown a significant association among chronic migraine and medication overuse with lifetime mood and anxiety disorders in patients of the studied population. No association was found for other researched psychiatric disorders.