High prevalence of comorbidity of migraine in outpatients with panic disorder and effectiveness of psychopharmacotherapy for both disorders: A retrospective open label study

We investigated the comorbidity rate of migraine in outpatients with panic disorder, and the efficacy of pharmacotherapy for both disorders. Fifty-four patients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria for panic disorder were recruited in the study. Forty-three patients were female, and their age ranged from 20 to 71 (38.8 ± 11.2; mean ± S.D.) years. Forty-one patients had agoraphobia. In these patients, we diagnosed migraine and other types of headache, using the International Classification of Headache Disorders, Second Edition (ICHD-II). Forty-three (79.6%) patients were diagnosed as having some type of headache; 33 (61.1%) migraine, 32 tension-type headache, and one cluster headache. In patients with migraine, treatment for panic disorder also improved their migraine in 19 (57.6%) patients. The mean onset age of panic disorder in patients with migraine was statistically significantly younger than that in non-migraine patients. The Clinical Global Impression Improvement (CGI-I) score of panic disorder was statistically significantly correlated with the CGI-I score of migraine. A high comorbidity rate (61.1%) of migraine was observed in outpatients with panic disorder, and our result suggests that treatment with antidepressants for panic disorder may also be effective for prophylaxis of migraine.