Correlation between migraine subtipes and depression

Abstract

This study has evaluated depression in patients with episodic migraine (n=98), chronic migraine without medication overuse (n=23), and chronic migraine with medication overuse (n=57). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to evaluate depressive symptoms in these three groups. The mean BDI score obtained in all patients was higher than that observed in asymptomatic subjects (episodic migraine=16.09±11.79, chronic migraine with medication overuse=18.91±12.53, chronic migraine without medication overuse=19.83±14.79). This finding corroborates previous studies suggesting a co-morbid association between migraine and depression. Depression did not seem to be crucial in the transformation of migraine as the median BDI scores did not differ significantly between patients with episodic and chronic migraine. The median BDI scores of the patients with chronic migraine with medication overuse and that patients with chronic migraine without medication overuse were similar as well. Therefore, medication overuse behavior may not be related with depression.