Anxiety and Depression Symptomatology in Migraine: Retrospective Review of 257 Cases from Kaduna, Northern Nigeria

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms/disorders among patients with migraine attending the outpatient clinic of Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, KadunaMethods: This is a retrospective study. Case files of all patients who presented with 'headache syndrome' from January, 2000 to December, 2009 were reviewed applying the International Headache Society (IHS) criteria to identify those who met the criteria for migraine. These were further reviewed to determine the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms/disorders using the ICD-10 and DSM-IV diagnostic criteria.Results: During the 10 year period, 257 of 604 patients who presented with 'headache syndrome' met the IHS criteria for migraine. Analysis of these 257 patients revealed the following; mean age of subjects 31.3 (SD 11.1) years, mean duration of illness 53.3 (SD 50.6) months, mean duration of a migraine attack 26.5 (SD15.4) hours and mean frequency of migraine attack in 3 months 1.5 (SD 0.8) times. Sixty-three (24.5%) and 36 (14.0%) of the patients had depressive and anxiety symptoms/disordersrespectively. Presence of aura (OR 3.392, P value 0.030, 95%CI 1.129 - 10.196 ) predicted depressive symptoms /disorders while presence of aura (OR 4.008, P value <0.001, 95%CI 3.201-7.520) and psychosocial stressors (OR 5.099, P value 0.024, 95%CI 1.244-20.892) were predictors of anxiety symptoms/ disorders.Conclusion : Migraineis associated with increased risk of psychiatric morbidities. Presence of aura and psychosocial stressors are the predictive factors.Keywords: Anxiety, depression, migraine, Nigeri