Health-related quality of life and associated factors in Chinese menstrual migraine patients: a cross-sectional study

Background: Menstrual migraine is a particular form of migraine with a significant impact on the quality of life for women afflicted. Presently, no study has reported the quality of life in menstrual migraine patients. This work aims to assess the health-related quality of life and identify its associated factors among Chinese menstrual migraine patients. Methods: The cross-sectional study group consisted of 109 patients with menstrual migraine, and the control group consisted of 397 female patients with non-menstrual migraine. In total, 506 patients completed questionnaires for demographic and clinical information, the Self-rating Idea of Suicide Scale, the Hamilton Depression Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, the Headache Impact Test-6, the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Health-related quality of life was measured using the 36-Item Short Form Survey. Results: Compared with non-menstrual migraine patients, five dimensions of health-related quality of life were all found to be significantly impaired in menstrual migraine patients. Headache frequency (beta =- 0.218, P=0.014), the impact of headache on daily life (beta =- 0.270, P=0.002), depression symptoms (beta =- 0.345, P< 0.001) were significantly associated with physical component summary, depression symptoms (beta =- 0.379, P< 0.001), social support (beta =0.270, P < 0.001), suicidal ideation (beta =-0.344, 0.344, P < 0.001) were closely related to mental component summary. Conclusion: Menstrual migraine patients had a significantly poorer health-related quality of life in many domains than non-menstrual migraine patients. Headache frequency, the impact of headache on daily life, depression symptoms, social support, and suicidal ideation were significantly associated with health-related quality of life in menstrual migraine patients.