NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC MIGRAINE/MEDICATION OVERUSE HEADACHE, EPISODIC MIGRAINE AND CONTROLS

Abstract

Migraine, or  popular headache, is the seventh most common condition in medical offices, and it is common at every age. It is more prevalent in females. Cognitive loss is one of the simptons found in clinical practice. Frequent and unadvised abuse of medications for cronic migraine might induce headache. Evidence show memory, executive functions and attention damage. The goal of this study was to do a neuropsychological evaluation in patients with sporadic aura/no aura migraine, chronic/drug-induced headache comparing them to the control group. The following tests were used: Iowa Gambling Test, WINSCONSIN, Trail Making Test and Number/Letter sequence. Thirty adults, within then 20 patients joined this transversal study. Patients were recruited from the neurology ambulatory at Hospital Santa Clara and Hospital São José da Santa Casa de Porto Alegre – RS. The results from neuropsychological evaluation showed statistical difference between sporadic headache, drug-induced and controls in WISCONSIN and the “B” part of Trail Making Test. In conclusion, there is evidence of executive disfunctions as well as a possibly impulsive profile for patients with drug-induced headache.