Association of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder with migraine: Data from Kosovo.

INTRODUCTION: Migraine is ranked as the seventh leading cause of disability worldwide, and it is characterized by a manifestation of combined neurological, gastrointestinal, and autonomic symptoms linked with different provoking factors.

AIM OF THE STUDY: This study investigates the association between migraine and PTSD, depression and anxiety in the Kosovo population during the post-war period.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: 273 war survivors with headache were enrolled in the study and were divided into two groups: 153 individuals with confirmed migraine (the study group) and 120 individuals with non-migraine headaches (control group). All individuals were evaluated using the ICHD-II 2004 diagnostic criteria for migraine, as well as the mini-test for PTSD, MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) for psychological evaluation, PAI (Personality Assessment Inventory) and Hamilton Scale for Depression.

RESULTS: Among migraine patients, depressive disorders were present in 27.5% of patients, anxiety was found in 60.8%, and PTSD was present in 39.2%. While the prominence of depression was not different between groups, anxiety was significantly more common (p<0.05) in women from the control group. PTSD was significantly more common (p<0.001) in migraine patients overall, whereas the difference in PTSD prevalence between women from the migraine and control groups came close to significance (p=0.05). Females in the migraine group had higher incidences of aura (50% vs. 25.5%), whereas the incidence of aura in males in each group was approximately equal (9.8% vs. 7.84%).

CONCLUSION: Based on our data, we can confirm an association between PTSD and migraine in a sample of patients from Kosovo.