Indexes of anxiety, depression and disability in patients with myofascial pain, with and without the additional diagnosis of migraine

Abstract

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare anxiety, depression and disability indexes in patients with myofascial pain with and without additional diagnosis of migraine. METHODS: We included 203 patients of the Orofacial Pain Clinic of the University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Patients were over 18 years of age, both genders, with a primary diagnosis of myofascial pain. The patients were also evaluated for the presence of migraine according to the criteria of the International Headache Society. The sample was divided into two groups: 120 patients with only myofascial pain (Group 1) and 83 patients with myofascial pain and with an additional diagnosis of migraine (Group 2). The Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory and Migraine Disability Assessment questionnaires were applied. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the groups at a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: Patients in group 1 presented significantly higher indexes in the Beck Anxiety Inventory (p=0.005), Beck Depression Inventory (p=0.025) and number of days lost and/or impaired (56.4 days) than those in group 2. The Migraine Disability Assessment Questionnaire scores for groups 1 and 2 were, respectively, 48% and 24.1% for grade I; 9.2% and 3.6% for grade II; 8.2% and 22.9% for grade III; and, 34.7% and 49.4% for grade IV. CONCLUSION: Patients with myofascial pain and migraine had significantly higher anxiety, depression and disability indexes (p<0.05), as well as moderate and severe disability levels considerably higher than those with only myofascial pain.

Keywords

• Orofacial pain
• Migraine
• Temporomandibular disorders