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Migraine Pain Location and Measures of Healthcare Use and Distress: An Observational Study
Joint Authors
Loder, Elizabeth
Weizenbaum, Emma
Giddon, Donald
Source
Issue
Vol. 2018, Issue 2018 (31 Dec. 2018), pp.1-11, 11 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2018-06-04
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
11
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Introduction.
Lateralized pain is a core diagnostic feature of migraine.
In previous research, left-sided spinal pain was more frequent and associated with greater emotional distress and healthcare use than right-sided pain.
We hypothesized therefore that patients with left-sided head pain might experience higher levels of distress or healthcare use than those with right-sided or bilateral pain.
Methods.
Medical record information was extracted for 477 randomly selected patients with migraine seen in 2011 in a tertiary headache clinic.
This included demographic data, pain location, handedness, comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, medical and emergency department visits, and use of selected headache medications.
Results and Discussion.
Two hundred twenty-eight of four hundred seventy-seven (47.8%) patients reported lateralized pain, of which 107 (47.9%) patients were right sided compared with 65 (28.5%) left-sided patients (p=0.001), while 56 (24.5%) reported unilateral pain with no side predominance.
Contrary to expectations, with the exception of self-reported posttraumatic stress disorder, there were no statistically significant differences between left and right in measures of psychiatric distress, emergency department visits, or healthcare use.
Conclusion.
Although unilateral pain location can be helpful in making a migraine diagnosis, it does not appear to have additional clinical implications.
Additionally, its absence does not rule out a diagnosis of migraine since more than half of migraineurs have bilateral head pain.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Loder, Elizabeth& Weizenbaum, Emma& Giddon, Donald. 2018. Migraine Pain Location and Measures of Healthcare Use and Distress: An Observational Study. Pain Research and Management،Vol. 2018, no. 2018, pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1212587
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Loder, Elizabeth…[et al.]. Migraine Pain Location and Measures of Healthcare Use and Distress: An Observational Study. Pain Research and Management No. 2018 (2018), pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1212587
American Medical Association (AMA)
Loder, Elizabeth& Weizenbaum, Emma& Giddon, Donald. Migraine Pain Location and Measures of Healthcare Use and Distress: An Observational Study. Pain Research and Management. 2018. Vol. 2018, no. 2018, pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1212587
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1212587