The Association of Catastrophizing and Pain-Related Anxiety with Headache-Related Disability in Patients Suffering from Migraine

Aim and Migraine is one of the most common types of headache and significantly impacts patients’ performance and may even be disabling. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of catastrophizing and pain-related anxiety with this health problem.
Methods and Materials: This study was a cross-sectional, correlational research. For the purpose of this study, 178 patients who had been diagnosed with migraine by a neurologist, and referred to private neurology clinics and hospitals in Tehran, Iran, were selected through convenience sampling. The participants completed the Headache Disability Inventory (HDI), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS-20). The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software using the Pearson correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis.
Findings: A significant positive correlation was observed between both variables of catastrophizing (R = 0.64) and pain-related anxiety (R = 0.62), and headache-related disability. Pain-related anxiety predicted 36% of the variance in headache-related disability (P This study emphasized the role of psychological variables in predicting headache-related disability in patients with migraine. According to the findings, the degree of catastrophizing can be a predictor of headache-related disability; therefore, the consideration of the role of this variable in patients with chronic migraine is one of the important clinical themes of this study. This could help to improve the quality of life in individuals with migraine.