Researchers recently studied patients with medication overuse headache to see if they experienced decreased quality of life, as well as increased depression and anxiety. These patients, who underwent an inpatient withdrawal program were asked to complete questionnaires related to depression, anxiety and quality of life. The questionnaires were filled out prior to the start of the withdrawal program, as well as six months after the conclusion of the program.
At the beginning of the study depression was present in over 65% of the patients, and anxiety in 71% of the patients. Quality of life was decreased when compared to normative data. After looking at the post-program statistics, the researchers concluded that inpatient withdrawal therapy led to a significant improvement of quality of life, depression and anxiety in the patients. It was also noted that poor mental quality of life, depression and anxiety seen in patients at the start of the program was associated with poor outcome in terms of headache frequency. Clinical Journal of Pain 5/12