People With Cluster Headache More Likely to Have Multimorbidity

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 14, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The proportion of individuals with multimorbidity is higher for patients with cluster headache (CH) than matched references, and multimorbidity is also associated with higher sickness absence and disability pension levels among CH patients, according to a study published online Dec. 14 in Neurology.

Caroline Ran, Ph.D., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues examined the occurrence of diagnosis-specific multimorbidity among CH patients and matched references. Data were obtained from two nationwide registers: A total of 3,240 CH patients aged 16 to 64 years and living in Sweden in 2010 were included, with 16,200 matched references.

The researchers found that in general, and in all analyzed diagnostic groups, a higher proportion of CH patients had multimorbidity compared with matched references (91.9 versus 77.6 percent; odds ratio, 3.263). Particularly high differences were seen for diagnoses relating to the nervous (51.8 versus 15.4 percent; odds ratio, 5.922) and musculoskeletal (39.0 versus 23.7 percent; odds ratio, 2.057) systems. Higher multimorbidity rates were seen among women versus men with CH (96.4 versus 89.6 percent). The mean number of days of sickness absence and disability pension was higher for CH patients versus references (63.15 versus 34.08 days). Compared with references, for CH patients, multimorbidity was associated with a higher mean number of such days (67.25 versus 40.69 days).

“Increasing our understanding of the other conditions that affect people with cluster headache and how they impact their ability to work is very important,” Ran said in a statement. “This information can help us as we make decisions on treatments, prevention, and prognoses.”