A research on anxiety disorder prevalance and severity among vestibuler migraine and migraine patients

Objective: Vestibular migraine and migraine patients without history of vertigo indicate neurological symptoms accompanied with psychiatric disorders like anxiety and mood disorders. In this research, anxiety, depression symptoms and severity compared between healthy controls, vestibular migraine and migraine patients without history of vertigo. Method: Sample set of the research is as follows: 35 vestibular migraine patients, 35 migraine patient without history of vertigo and 32 healthy controls. All subjects evaluated for their lifetime psychiatric disorders with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV/Clinical version (SCID-I/CV). The SCID-I is used to diagnose the lifetime anxiety and mood disorders for vestibular migraine and migraine without history of vertigo patients. The following questionnaires were then given to all three groups: (1) Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) is a 14-item clinician-rated scale that measures the severity of anxiety; (2) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) is a self-rated scale that comprises two subscales of 20 items, one assessing levels of state anxiety (STAI-X1) and the other trait anxiety STAI-X2); (3) Beck depression inventory (BDI) a 21 item self-rated inventory which asses risk of depressive symptoms and the severity of this symptoms; (4) Lifetime Panic Agoraphobic Spectrum Scale (PAS-SR) is a self-rated scale that comprises eight subscales (separation anxiety, panic symptoms, stress sensitivity, drug-medicine sensitivity, anticipatory anxiety, agoraphobia, illness phobia, reassurance seeking) of 114 items; (5) Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PENN) is a self-rated scale measures chronic, excessive worry, (6) Separation Anxiety Symptoms Inventory (SASI), (7) Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (ASA) . Findings: In terms of psychiatric diagnosis history (SCID-I), comparison of vestibular migraine and migraine patients without history of vertigo did not indicate a significant difference (p<0.05). Vestibular migraine and migraine patients without history of vertigo were not significantly different in "motion sickness history in the family, migraine history in the family, motion sickness history of the individual, inability to read books during travel" (p<0.05). However, both patient groups were significantly different than healthy controls. Vestibular migraine and migraine without history of vertigo patients were significantly different than healthy controls in terms of anxiety symptoms in "HAM-A, PENN, ASA, PAS-SR and PAS-SR subscales (p<0.05)". Vestibular migraine was significantly different than without history of vertigo patients in BDE and PAS-SR (overall; separation anxiety, agoraphobia, reassurance seeking) (p<0.05). The longer the history of migraine the higher was the anxiety points in both in VM and migraine patients without history of vertigo (p<0.05). Headache and vertigo severity in VM patients were significantly correlated with the elevated anxiety and depression points (p<0.05). Conclusion: Vestibular migraine and migraine patients without history of vertigo were significantly different in anxiety and mood disorder when compared with healthy controls. Our findings showed that vestibular migraine patients were more vulnerable to psychiatric disorders. For that reason, multidisciplinary approach for the treatment of vestibular migraine may facilitate the treatment process. Keywords: Vestibular Migraine, Migraine, Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders