Page 44 - The clinical aspects and management of chronic migraine Judith Anne Pijpers

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Chapter 2
associated with all three symptom dimensions of affective disorders, covering general distress as well as anxiety and depression specific symptoms.
The strengths of this study are the large sample size, the well-defined migraine status in the LUMINA population, the well-defined psychopathology status in the NESDA population, and the well-defined healthy control population from NESDA. Most importantly, this is the first study focusing on the different symptom dimensions of affective disorders in migraine patients. Possible limitations include the fact that we compare two different cohorts, in which data was collected in different ways and time periods.
In conclusion, we found that migraine patients, without taking their history of psychopathology into account, differ significantly from healthy controls on all three dimensions of affective disorders. The strongest difference is seen on the somatic-affective component which is suggestive of increased anxiety. Using subgroups of migraine patients, based on the tripartite model of affective disorders, may be warranted in further biological research on the comorbidity of migraine, anxiety and depression.