Gastrointestinal symptoms in chronic migraine patients

Objective To discuss the correlation between gastrointestinal symptoms concomitant with chronic migraine and sleep disorders, anxiety and depression. Methods Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) were adopted to conduct comparative analysis on gastrointestinal symptoms, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and related risk factors in 151 chronic migraine patients who conformed to International Headache Society International Classification of Headache Diseases-Ⅱ diagnostic code and 151 healthy controls in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Qiqihar Medical University from January 2015 to December 2017. Results PSQI scores (8.46±2.54 vs 4.53±1.95, t=2.913, P<0.05), SAS scores (53.24±11.66 vs 39.58±8.63, t=3.112, P<0.05), SDS scores (51.09±8.80 vs 36.11±5.74, t=3.520, P<0.05), and GSRS scores (4.53 (3.74, 5.32) vs 1.29 (0.73, 1.31), Z=30.804, P<0.05) were all higher in migraine patients than that in healthy controls, and the differences were all statistically significant. In chronic migraine patients, 139 (92.05%) had one gastrointestinal symptom at least, and the overall incidence of each gastrointestinal symptom was abdominal distension (60 cases,39.74%), exhaust increase (51 cases,33.77%), and endless defecation (43 cases,28.48%), etc., in turn. Multiple regression analysis showed that headache degree, frequency, PSQI scores, SAS scores, and SDS scores were the main risk factors of gastrointestinal symptoms concomitant with chronic migraine. GSRS scores of chronic migraine patients presented positive correlation with PSQI scores (r=0.65, P=0.000), SAS scores (r=0.42, P=0.000), and SDS scores (r=0.48, P=0.000), respectively. Conclusion Chronic migraine patients are easy to be accompanied with gastrointestinal symptoms, and headache degree and frequency, sleep disorders, depression and anxiety are the main risk factors of concomitant gastrointestinal symptoms. Key words: Migraine; Gastrointestinal symptoms; Dyssomnia; Dysphoric; Depression