Migraine victims suffer cruel toll

Migraine sufferers can experience a worse quality of life than asthmatics, reports an Auckland researcher.

People with migraines also report "more pain and poorer functioning in mental health and social aspects of daily life than patients with depression, osteoarthritis, diabetes and hypertension", says Dr Karen Waldie, of the Auckland University psychology department.

Her study is part of a long-term research project at Otago University looking at the health and behaviour of a group of children born in 1972 and 1973.

Dr Waldie said yesterday that of the 979 participants who were interviewed at the age of 26, almost a quarter reported frequent headaches in the previous 12 months.

Of these, 7.3 per cent were diagnosed with migraine alone, 11.1 per cent with tension-type headaches and 4.3 per cent with bothtypes.

"It was notable that, on measures of physical and emotional functioning, migraine and tension-type headache sufferers reported equally poor and sometimes poorer functioning than asthmatics on medication," the study said.

Dr Waldie's research has found that migraine headaches significantly impair all aspects of functioning, including work inside and outside the home, and social activities.

Migraines can also have a financial impact.

Almost 80 per cent of female migraine sufferers earned less than $30,000 a year before tax, compared with 65.7 per cent of women without migraine.

Dr Waldie's research has also added weight to the theory that there may be a link between low serotonin levels, anxiety and depression, and chronic migraine.

She has established that serotonin, a neurotransmitter or "brain chemical" occurs in lower concentrations in the blood of migraine sufferers with a genetic history of headaches.

- NZPA

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