Association of psychological measurements of anxiety and depression with headache history in a non-clinic population

Abstract

In a group of 711 non-clinic individuals, a self-administered questionnaire gave data on the life history of headache of defined severity and psychological states as defined by the Zung SDS and the Bendig-Taylor test. When the population was divided into those with and those without a history of disabling or severe headache, significantly higher scores for the former were found on both 'anxiety' and 'depression' tests--for both sexes, at all ages. Zung SDS scores fell from youth to middle age, then rose in old age. When the frequency and duration of headache were studied in association with psychological tests, the most significant association was found between headache frequency and depression scores.