The Relationship between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Personality Characteristics in Migrainous Patients

Background: World Health Organization reports described migraine as one of the 4 most disabling chronic medical disorders. A day with migraine is as disabling as a day with quadriplegia, schizophrenia, or dementia in who is view 87% of people with migraine has some degree of disability. Migraine headaches are associated with psychological factors and personality characteristics. This study compares the personality characteristics of migraine patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and without ADHD.

Materials and Methods: Eighty patients with migraine were evaluated in this cross sectional study with simple sampling method. All participants were assessed with semi structured clinical interview, adult ADHD self-report scale (ASRS) and Millone clinical multiaxial inventory questionnaire. The migraine patients were divided into two groups, with and without ADHD. The correlation of variables was tested by χ2 test and t-test with 0.05 significance with the use of software SPSS-20.

Results: Our participants were 80% female, 56% married and 36.2% with at least graduation from high school. Patients with migraine and ADHD were younger and their first headache experience had occurred in lower age compared with non-ADHD patients (p<0.05). In current study, we showed that there is a significant correlation between ADHD and depressive and independent personality traits and dysthymic clinical syndrome in migraine patients (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that personality characteristics in migraine patients may be affected by some other mental disorders such as ADHD. These findings might be helpful in early treatment and prevention of dysfunctioning in patients with migraine.