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For the study, researchers surveyed over 1,300 adult migraine patients who had attended a specialty headache clinic. Around 10% of these patients reported also having fibromyalgia, and among this subset 58.3% of patients reported suicidal ideation and 17.6% reported suicide attempts. In migraine patients who did not report fibromyalgia, the rates for ideation and attempt were 24.1% and 5.7%, respectively.
Patients with migraines and fibromyalgia also reported a higher frequency of headaches, more headache-related disability, poorer sleep quality, and more depression and anxiety symptoms than those with migraines only.
The authors noted that since all the participants in the study went to a headache clinic, their symptoms and discomfort may be higher than the average population, so the findings may not be applicable to everyone. However, they recommended that future studies explore the relationship between suicide risk and other pain conditions to see if there is some unique effect of combined migraine and fibromyalgia or if the risks are due to increased pain in general.
To read more about the effective management of people with chronic pain conditions, see the FOCUS article "A Review of Chronic Noncancer Pain: Epidemiology, Assessment, Treatment, and Future Needs."
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