Patterns of headache in panic disorder: a survey of members of the South African Panic Disorder Support Group

Background: Panic attacks and headaches often occur concurrently or are temporally related. Aim: The aim of this study was to report the prevalence of three types of headaches (tension headache and migraine with or without aura) and present the occurrence of various symptoms obtained from a questionnaire survey of a panic disorder support group. Methods: Two thousand questionnaires were distributed among members of the South African Panic Disorder Support Group. Diagnosis of the headache type was made according to the New International Headache Society's Headache Classification System. Results: The primary finding of this study was that the migraine headache versus tension headache ratio was 2:1, where in the normal population the ratio of migraine headache to tension headache is 1:3. Conclusion: The findings suggest a higher ratio of migraine vs. muscle tension headache among members of a panic disorder support group than the general population and a common link through the basic pathophysiology and neurochemistry of these two disorders is raised.