The influence of ergotamine abuse on psychological and cognitive functioning

Migraine patients abusing ergotamine often have chronic daily headaches ass ociated with tiredness, sleep and memory disturbances, and reduced general well-being. We quantified psychological and cognitive functioning in 12 mig raine patients with and 12 without ergotamine abuse (greater than or equal to 5 days/week for greater than or equal to 6 months) and 12 healthy contro ls. Psychological functioning assessed by Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and Profile Of Mood State (POMS), was impaired in ergotamine abusers compared to healthy controls. Cognitive functioning divided into four domains: atten tion (critical flicker frequency analysis and mental control subscale of th e Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), speed of information processing (reaction ti me tasks and lexical decision tasks), memory (four subscales of the WMS) an d cognitive flexibility (trailmaking test and WMS digits backwards), was im paired in ergotamine abusers in speed of information processing and cogniti ve flexibility. These differences disappeared after correction for total SC L-90 scores. In conclusion, ergotamine abuse is associated with high psycho logical distress but not with structural impaired cognitive functioning.