The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with migraine

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of our work was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine measures on migraine patients in regards to the activity of the disease, the psycho-emotional background of the patients and their quality of life. Methods: his study included 133 patients with established diagnosis of migraine. All study participants were divided into two clinical groups: A—patients with chronic and episodic forms of migraine, who had a history of positive PCR test for COVID-19, and B—patients with chronic and episodic forms of migraine who did not have a history of coronavirus disease. Results: We detected increase in the number of antimigraine medication ( p = 0.04), frequency of headache attacks ( p = 0.01), and the psycho-emotional state deterioration (increase in the Hamilton anxiety scale score) ( p = 0.002) in patients after recovery from the coronavirus disease. There was no significant difference in the headache’s intensity according to the VAS scale ( p = 0.51) as well as in the dynamics of the Beck depression scale score ( p = 0.09) before and after the COVID-19 infection. Conclusion: Patients with a history of migraine who recovered from COVID-19 showed increased frequency of migraine headache attacks and anxiety.