Characteristics and effects of headaches on quality of life in individuals with epilepsy in Çorum province of Turkey

Aims: Varying headache prevalence rates have been reported in individuals with epilepsy in the literature. This study was investigate the frequency and types of headaches in individuals with epilepsy, and the impact of headaches on the clinical features and quality of life in this patient group. Methods: 150 individuals with epilepsy, 83 female and 67 male, were included in the study sample by random sampling method. Headaches were primarily defined as pre-ictal, ictal, and post-ictal headaches according to the temporal relationship with seizures. Headaches that were not temporally related to seizures were defined as inter-ictal headaches. Types and features of participants’ headaches were evaluated using the headache questionnaire consisting of 35 questions. Individuals’ quality of life was evaluated using the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-10). Results: Of the 150 participants included in the study, 73.33% had generalized, 20% focal, and 6.66% combined generalized focal epilepsy, and 41.33% had accompanying headache complaints. Of the participants with headaches, 35.48% were male and 64.51% were female. Inter-ictal headache, which was detected in 72.58% participants, was the most common type of headache. Tension and migrainous type headaches were more common among participants with inter-ictal headache, whereas migrainous type headaches were more common among participants with pre- and post-ictal headaches. There were statistically significant differences in the scores obtained from all three subscales of QOLIE-10 inventory between the participants with and without headache. Accordingly, quality of life was worse in the headache group than in the headache-free group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Although clinicians focus more on diagnosis and treatment in the context of epilepsy, the treatment of comorbidities is also important. In this context, it is likely that accurate diagnosis of headaches in individuals with epilepsy and treating headaches along with epilepsy will significantly reduce the burden of disease in this patient group.

Keywords:

Headache, migraine, tension headache epilepsy, quality of life,

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