ABSTRACT
Background — Migraine is a common neurological disorder affecting around 18% of females and 6% of males. The present study was undertaken to identify and assess the impact of coexisting depression in diagnosed cases of migraine. Material and Methods — A hospital based case control study was conducted on 450 patients suffering from migraine of all ages and both sexes attending psychiatry OPD at civil hospital, Gurdaspur in Punjab. International headache society criteria for the diagnosis of migraine and 21- item Hamilton rating scale for depression was used. Migraine with depression (MWD) cases were compared with migraine without depression as controls (MC). Duration and frequency of migraine, comorbidity with depression was measured. Results — Out of 450 patients, 200 were MWD and 200 were MC patients. Among MWD and MC, females were common: 73% (146) and 75% (150) respectively. Of the females having MWD, 50% (73) belonged to age group 31-40 years as compared to females with MC where 58% (87) were from age group 21-30 years. Among the males, maximum number of patients belonged to age group 20-30 years for MWD and MC i.e 48% ( 26 ) and 57% (29) respectively. 50% of MWD reported having migraine attacks for five years or more years, whereas only 16% of MC had the similar duration (P value<0.01). 80% of (n=160) of MWD reported maximum disability during the headache as compared to 64% (n=128) of MC. 70% (140) of MWD had an average frequency of 4 or more attacks per month compared to 45% (90) of MC having one episode per month or less. Conclusion — Patients suffering from migraine with long history and high frequency might benefit from psychiatric evaluation and addition of antidepressants for their treatment.