A study assessed how the different factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic impacted patients with chronic migraine. The findings were published in Neurological Sciences.

In this e-mail survey study, researchers analyzed the responses of 92 patients as it pertained to demographic, lifestyle, sleep, psychological, and migraine features experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown period and the month before. The study endpoints were migraine impact on daily life and variation in attack frequency, attack duration, migraine pain intensity, migraine symptomatic drugs use per week, and efficacy.

According to the results, during the lockdown period, migraine attack frequency was stable in 40% of individuals, increased in about 34%, and reduced in 26% of patients. Attack duration was stable in 55% of patients, increased in 24%, and reduced in 21%. Migraine pain was stable or reduced in 65% of patients and increased in about 35%. The number of symptomatic drugs used per week was stable in 50% of the patient population, reduced in 29%, and increased in over 20%. Migraine drug efficacy was stable in about 74% of patients, reduced in 17%, and increased in almost 9%.

Overall, the study found correlations between COVID-19 and remote working, smoking, education, discontinuation of the therapy performed within headache center, migraine familiarity, sleep, anxiety, perceived stress, and concern about the future.

“We identified different migraine-influencing elements; in particular, the remote working could represent an easy way to ameliorate migraineurs’ life,” the researchers concluded.

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34365547/

 

Keywords: COVID-19, Chronic migraine, Headache, Lifestyle, Lockdown, Remote working