• Javier Díaz-de-Terán, María Sastre-Real, Luis Lobato-Pérez, Gonzalo Navarro-Fernández, Ignacio Elizagaray-García, and Alfonso Gil-Martínez.
• Department of Neurology, La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain.
• Neurol. Sci. 2021 Sep 1; 42 (9): 3673-3680.

ObjectiveTo compare the presence of allodynia, pain catastrophizing, and the impact of headaches on patients with cluster headache (CH) and healthy individuals. Our second aim was to analyze the relationship between catastrophism, psychological comorbidities, and the impact in CH.MethodsWe designed this cross-sectional study to compare various factors among 47 patients diagnosed with CH and 40 healthy controls, and then focus on catastrophism, anxiety, depression, and impact in the CH group.ResultsThere were statistically significant differences between CH and the asymptomatic group in Allodynia Symptom Checklist (ASC) (p < 0.001), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (p < 0.001), and HIT-6 (p < 0.001) scores. We found a correlation among ASC, PCS, anxiety-depression, EuroQoL, and HIT-6 for the CH group. In this group, we observed a strong positive correlation between PCS and anxiety (rho = 0.69; p < 0.001), PCS and depression (rho = 0.62; p < 0.001) and depression and EuroQoL (rho = - 0.68; p < 0.001). The regression model showed that the combination of anxiety and HIT-6 was a significant predictor of PCS (adjusted R2 = 0.52).DiscussionOur findings reveal significant differences regarding allodynia, pain catastrophism, and impact in CH group compared with controls. We found a significant relationship between psychological comorbidity, pain catastrophism, and quality of life in CH patients. Anxiety and HIT-6 were a predictor (adjusted R2 = 52%) of pain catastrophism. Screening for these comorbidities should be implemented through a multidisciplinary approach.© 2021. Fondazione Società Italiana di Neurologia.

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