Book Description

Objectives:To assess and characterize psychiatric comorbidities in patients referred to a Headache Outpatient Clinic (HOC). Background:Headache disorders, such as migraine and tension-type headache, and psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression, are commonly found together among general populations worldwide. This comorbidity pattern may be explained by different uni or bidirectional models and shared genetic and environmental risk factors predisposing to the development of both clinical conditions. The coexistence of these entities worsens the clinical situation and increases the risk of chronicity and likelihood of treatment failure.Materials and Methods:From a sample of 167 patients with headache, referred to the HOC in Hospital Garcia de Orta (Portugal) between June, 2017 and February, 2019, a retrospective analysis was conducted, focusing on psychiatric comorbidities (ICD-10) and concerning sociodemographic and clinical data.Results and Conclusions:Out of the initial sample, 55 patients had psychiatric comorbidity, corresponding to a prevalence of 32.9% (52.7% mood disorders; 29.1% neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders and 9.1% personality disorders). Three patients (5.5%) had more than one psychiatric diagnosis. Only 29.1% were followed-up in a Psychiatry Consultation. Regarding headache diagnosis, 58.2% had migraine and 10.9% had tension-type headache. Headache attributed to psychiatric disorder was presumed in 10.9%, while medication-overuse headache was present in 30.9% of patients. Females accounted for 85.5% of patients and the median age was 45 years.Psychiatric comorbidities were found to be prevalent in our cohort of patients. Given the complexity of the clinical picture in cases of comorbidity, further studies are needed for the establishment of a proper and multidisciplinary intervention.