Abstract
Objective: To know the psychiatric comorbidities in patients with headache disorders in Pakistani and Afghani population.Material and Methods: We reviewed and analyzed the data obtained through a semi-structured psychiatric interviewfrom 8,890 patients who visited our clinic for treatment from July 2013 to July 2016. Two assessors made the diagnosesaccording to International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd Ed Beta (ICHD-3) for diagnosis of headachedisorders, and ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders, Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelinesfor the diagnoses of comorbid psychiatric disorders. Association of headache types and symptoms of psychiatricdisorders were analysed using Pearson chi square test, keeping alpha value less than .05.Results: 13620(15.3% )of patients out of 8,890 had headache as one of their chief complaints. Migraine was diagnosedin 867( 63.7%), tension-type headache in 204(15% ), secondary headache in 55( 4% ), cephalagias in 33(2.4%). Symptoms of depression were present in 60.4% (n=822), Symptoms of Anxiety in 474( 34.8%) , somatic complaintsin 162(11.9% ) and Dissociative Symptoms in120( 8.8 % ) of the patients. There was evidence of association betweenMigraine and symptoms of Anxiety in patients who presented with complaint of headache, more so in females than inmales (p<.001).Conclusion: Migraine is highly comorbid with anxiety symptoms than with symptoms of depression and this associationis strong in females