Migraine, major depression, panic disorder, and personality traits in women aged 40-74 years: a population-based study

This study investigates the associations between migraine on the one hand and lifetime major depression, lifetime panic disorder, and neuroticism evaluated using the Swedish universities Scales of Personality on the other. A neurologist clinically assessed 728 women aged 40-74 years attending a population-based mammography screening programme. The associations between lifetime migraine and personality traits and psychiatric disorders were insignificant in multivariable analysis. However, in old women (60-74 years) the risk for active migraine was strongly associated with a history of major depression and high levels of stress susceptibility and somatic trait anxiety. Furthermore, in old women, high levels of stress susceptibility and somatic trait anxiety were associated with low ratings of migraine pain intensity and lower levels of these traits with high ratings after controlling for disability during migraines, whereas there were only small differences in middle-aged women. The results suggest that certain aspects of neuroticism are important mental correlates of the ability of old women to endure migraine pain.