Psychiatric comorbidity is related to headache induced by chronic substance use in migraineurs

Headache centers have to deal with patients suffering from headache induced by chronic substance use which is a well-recognized complication of migrai ne treatment. The objective of this study was to compare psychiatric comorb idity between migraineurs with and without chronic substance use: 34 migrai nous inpatients with chronic substance use were compared with 34 sex-matche d noncomplicated migraineurs in a case-control study. The results showed a significantly higher prevalence of major depressive disorder, panic disorde r, and social phobia in the patients with a history of chronic substance us e. Consistently, anxious and depressive dimensions were significantly highe r in these patients. Therefore, psychiatric morbidity may be linked to chro nic substance use in migraineurs. This stresses the importance of psychiatr ic assessment and the need for appropriate treatment in such patients.