Keywords:
Headache - Migraine - Catastrophization - Pain
Palavras-chave:
Cefaleia - Enxaqueca - Catastrofização - Dor
INTRODUCTION
Primary headaches are a frequent reason for seeking medical care. While some patients
may deal well with their headache attacks, others accumulate anxiety, depression,
and other psychological features to their chronic and/or recurrent pain. Some patients
may have cephalalgiaphobia[1], i.e. the fear of developing a headache, while others can catastrophize their condition[2].
Catastrophizing is a psychological process involving a maladaptive and negative evaluation
of specific symptoms. When a person catastrophizes, the process can contribute to
increase the intensity of that symptom and increase the degree of emotional distress[3]. Psychological aspects, which can alter the perception and expression of pain, pose
extra challenges to a patient’s medical consultation and follow-up[4]. While headache specialists may find it easier to identify these psychological patterns
in their daily practice, general clinicians may not be familiar with these difficult
cases. When searching for information in the medical literature, general practitioners
will often find reports on catastrophization from tertiary headache clinics[5].
The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and level of catastrophization
in people with headache in the general population using an online survey. This assessment
may provide a broader picture of the situation that general clinicians experience
while attending patients with primary headaches.
METHODS
Prior to data collection, this study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universidade
Metropolitana de Santos, SP, Brazil. Participants accessed an initial page of the
survey containing the informed consent statement. Once the terms of the survey had
been accepted, the participant could start answering the questions. The sample size
was calculated as 168 individuals, for a 95% confidence interval, and was based on
previously reported levels of catastrophization in migraine[5].
The study was announced via social media and the survey remained open from July 28th
to August 3rd, 2020. Eligible participants were those that had a minimum of two migraine
episodes per month for at least one year. If the sample size had not been reached
within this period, the collection period would be extended. Diagnosis of migraine
was confirmed by a set of questions based on the International Headache Society criteria[6]. After answering these questions, if the participant fulfilled the criteria for
migraine, a new page would open with questions for anxiety, depression, and catastrophization
screening.
While propagating the study within social media (Facebook and Instagram), it was clearly
stated that only migraineurs should participate, with either a diagnosis of migraine
or conclusion that migraine was the diagnosis by reading the headache characteristics.
The study was advertised as assessing “some psychological aspects of migraineurs”
and, at no time, catastrophization was mentioned.
The following data were gathered: gender, age, educational level, headache characteristics
(to make sure that it was a migraine), and participants answered the Hospital Anxiety
and Depression Scale (HAD)[7] and the Catastrophization Scale[9], both validated for use in Portuguese[8],[10]. The HAD contains alternate questions relating to anxiety and depression that are
counted separately. Scores above 13 for anxiety and/or depression are suggestive of
moderate to severe traits of either or both. The catastrophization scale contains
13 questions that are scored from zero to four; the results are summed and divided
by 13. Higher total scores are associated with higher degrees of catastrophization.
In addition, headache characteristics were investigated to confirm that they were
typical of migraine. The participants were also given a visual scale scored from zero
to 10 on which they marked their usual intensity of headaches.
Statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism. After confirming the normality
of the data using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the authors used Student’s t test,
Fisher’s exact test, and Pearson’s correlation for comparisons between groups. Results
are presented as median values within the interquartile range (25 to 75%). Correlations
between parameters were expressed as p values, obtained from the original r value.
Statistically significant values were those with p < 0.05.
RESULTS
The survey was answered by 246 individuals who reported having headaches at least
twice a month. Four of them did not fulfill the diagnostic criteria for migraine from
the International Headache Society[6] and were excluded.
The participants comprised 233 women and nine men, with median age of 22 years; 96%
of them had had at least 12 years of formal education. The median scores observed
in this group of individuals were 7 for pain, 11 for anxiety, 7 for depression, and
2 for catastrophization. High scores for catastrophization (≥3.0) were identified
in 32.5% of the participants.
Most of the patients (68.6%) had had over five years of headache history. Most participants
(55.3%) had headaches on fewer than 14 days per month. The anxiety, depression, and
catastrophization scores did not show any correlation with the duration or frequency
of headache. The migraines of 166 individuals were without aura, while 65 had visual
auras, nine had paresthesia as the aura, and two had mixed forms, including dysphasia.
There was no correlation between migraine with or without aura and catastrophization
(p=0.97). Likewise, there was no correlation between the patients’ age and catastrophization
(p=0.95).
The duration of an headache episode was between four hours and three days for 72.3%
of the participants. The remaining individuals had continuous or nearly continuous
headache. Catastrophization had no correlation with the duration (p=0.78) or intensity
(p=0.79) of the migraine. There was no correlation between catastrophization and headache
frequency (p=0.91) or the monthly amount of headache medication taken (p=0.85).
Anxiety traits were identified in 66.5% of all participants, while depression traits
were observed in 37.6% of them. There was a strong correlation between anxiety and
depression (p=0.007; r=0.71). Neither of these conditions had any correlation with
catastrophization: p=0.21 for anxiety and p=0.31 for depression traits. However, for
patients with traits of both anxiety and depression, a moderate correlation was observed
(p=0.04; r=0.46).
None of the participants was undergoing prophylactic treatment for migraine. More
than half of them were unaware of this therapeutic option, while 45.5% of them had
tried it, but did not persist with it. Eighty patients had previously received prophylaxis
for migraine, but the attacks returned after treatment was withdrawn. Fifteen patients
had not tolerated the adverse events of prophylaxis and had abandoned it, while another
15 had tried this therapeutic option without any improvement. Most patients (75%)
were not using more than five doses of migraine medication per month, while 5% used
daily medication for pain. There was no correlation between catastrophization and
the number of doses of medication used for migraine (p=0.55).
DISCUSSION
Patients with migraine can have difficulties in coping with the pain and may develop
fearful and/or dramatic behavior regarding their headache attacks. Underlying anxiety
and depression contribute towards reducing the ability to cope[11]. Having a migraine attack may be an important source of worry, and patients may
overinterpret its burden. Pain catastrophizing relates to brain areas involved in
pain processing, attention to pain, emotions, and reduced ability for pain inhibition[12]. Ultimately, patients with chronic headache who have traits of anxiety and depression
might be prone to catastrophize the attacks.
A recent Spanish study showed that about one third of patients with migraine had high
degrees of catastrophization[5]. In our study, we found that a similar proportion of our patients catastrophized
to a high degree. The Spanish patients attended a tertiary headache clinic, while
ours were from the general population. Therefore, we may infer that this behavior
is found among individuals with migraine, irrespectively of the degree of care that
the patients receive. Similar results have also been found in children and adolescents[13] and in obese patients[14].
Catastrophization did not show any correlation with the duration and intensity of
pain, anxiety and depression, age, aura, frequency of attacks, or medication overuse.
Because only a small number of men answered the survey, we could not evaluate the
effect of gender on catastrophization. Among the other parameters, we were unable
to make any moderate or strong correlation between catastrophization and any aspect
of migraine. Catastrophization seems to be a trait of the individual and appears to
be unrelated to the characteristics of the migraine. It is important to mention that
a trend to rename ‘pain catastrophizing’ as ‘pain-related worrying’ has emerged recently[15].
Our study had limitations. We did not have in-person contact with the participants
and relied exclusively on the questionnaires. Some authors have criticized self-reported
questionnaires for assessment of pain catastrophization, stating that this evaluation
requires expert judgment[15]. In addition, the large number of women answering the questionnaires may reflect
the fact that women are more likely to do so. Likewise, a high percentage of individuals
with catastrophization behavior may reflect greater interest in this population in
discussions about their headaches. In addition, more women than men have migraine.
Dissemination on Facebook and Instagram meant we had no control of the locations where
the study questionnaire was answered.
Lastly, the participants in our study were not receiving prophylactic treatment for
their migraine. More than half of them were unaware of this therapeutic option, while
45.5% of them had tried it, but abandoned it. Over 16% of the participants could be
classified as having chronic migraine and the fact that they were not undergoing treatment
is worrisome.
In conclusion, the level of catastrophization in people with migraine appears to be
more a trait of the individual than a characteristic related to the migraine.
