Demographic and comorbid factors associated with the development of medication overuse headache

Objective: to conduct a comparative analysis of factors associated with the development of medication overuse headache (MOH), considering demographic characteristics of patients and comorbid pathology.

Material and methods. A prospective study was conducted at "Europe–Asia" International Medical Center. The main group comprised patients with primary headache (HA) aged 18 years and older with MOH, and the control group comprised patients with primary HA without MOH of comparable gender and age. A semi-structured interview was conducted with the patients and additional examinations were performed, including MRI of the brain if indicated. The study included 171 patients with MOH (mean age 43.3 years, 82% women) and 173 patients without MOH (mean age 41.4 years, 75% women).

Results. Chronic migraine occurred more frequently in the MOH group (53 and 16%, respectively; p<0.001; OR 5.9; 95% CI 3.6–9.8). One third of patients in both groups suffered from chronic tension-type headache (CTH). Episodic migraine and episodic CTH occurred more frequently in patients without MOH (p<0.001). Patients in the MOH group were more frequently divorced (11.7 and 2.9%, respectively; p=0.002; OR 4.5; 95% CI 1.6–12.2). The majority of patients (76%) in both groups were employed, had a higher education (65% with MOH and 74% without MOH) and were married (63% with MOH and 72% without MOH).The analysis of more than 20 comorbid diseases revealed that three factors were most frequently associated with the development of MOH: chronic insomnia (60.2 and 47.4% respectively; p=0.02; OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.1–2.6), restless legs syndrome (37.4 and 22% respectively; p=0.002; OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.3–3.4) and subjective cognitive impairment (76 and 53.2% respectively; p<0.001; OR 2.8; 95% CI 1.8–4.8).

Conclusion. Sleep disturbance, subjective cognitive impairment and marital status of patients are most frequently associated with MOH, indicating the great importance of these factors in the development of MOH and opening new opportunities for its prevention.

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