Diurnal variation of tension-type headache intensity and exacerbation: An investigation using computerized ecological momentary assessment

BioPsychoSocial Medicine

Hiroe Kikuchi³  Kazuhiro Yoshiuchi³  Yoshiharu Yamamoto²  Gen Komaki¹  Akira Akabayashi³ 

[1] Department of Psychosomatic Research, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8553, Japan

[2] Educational Physiology Laboratory, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan

[3] Department of Stress Sciences and Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan

关键词: Diurnal variation;    Electronic diary;    Ecological momentary assessment;    Tension-type headache;   

Others  :  1082369
DOI  :  10.1186/1751-0759-6-18

 received in 2012-05-11, accepted in 2012-08-30,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Backgrounds

Tension-type headache is a common psychosomatic disease. However, diurnal variation of headache is yet to be clarified, perhaps due to the lack of an appropriate method to investigate it. Like other painful diseases, it would be helpful to know if there is diurnal variation in tension-type headaches, both for managing headaches and understanding their pathophysiology. The aim of this study was to determine if there is diurnal variation in the intensity and exacerbation of tension-type headache.

Methods

Patients (N = 31) with tension-type headache recorded for one week their momentary headache intensity several times a day and their acute headache exacerbations using a watch-type computer as an electronic diary (computerized ecological momentary assessment). Multilevel modeling was used to test the effects of time of day on momentary headache intensity and on the occurrence of acute exacerbations.

Results

A significant diurnal variation in momentary headache intensity was shown (P = 0.0005), with the weakest headaches in the morning and a peak in the late afternoon. A between-individual difference in the diurnal pattern was suggested. On-demand medication use was associated with a different diurnal pattern (P = 0.025), suggesting that headache intensity decreases earlier in the evening in subjects who used on-demand medication, while headache subtype, prophylactic medication use, and sex were not associated with the difference. The occurrence of acute headache exacerbation also showed a significant diurnal variation, with a peak after noon (P = 0.0015).

Conclusions

Tension-type headache was shown to have a significant diurnal variation. The relation to pathophysiology and psychosocial aspects needs to be further explored.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Kikuchi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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