At the American Headache Society’s 56th Annual Scientific Meeting, Sylvia Lucas, M.D., Ph.D., a clinical professor of neurology and neurological surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center reported on her research looking at the correlation between headache and depression following mild traumatic brain injury.
The study looked at 212 patients with mild traumatic brain injury at the University of Washington who sustained a mild traumatic brain injury. Participants had a mean age of 44 years and were mostly male (76%), white (75%), and had at least a high school education (83%). Their injuries primarily involved vehicle accidents (58%), followed by falls (24%), assaults (5%), and sports mishaps (3%). Researchers carried out baseline assessments during face-to-face interviews within 7 days of the injury. Follow-up interviews using a structured questionnaire were completed over the telephone at 3, 6, and 12 months post-injury.
The study found that a year after suffering mild traumatic brain injury, patients with headache were five times more likely to be depressed than patients with mild traumatic brain injury without headache and those who were depressed were more likely suffer headaches.
Click here to see the article published in Medscape Medical News, July 3, 2014.