Headache and migraine in mitochondrial disease and its impact on life—results from a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study

Headache is frequent in patients with mitochondrial disorders. Previous studies point to a higher prevalence of headache in these patients than in the general population. As mitochondrial disorders often present a variety of other symptoms, the question arises how much the presence of headache really influences daily life. We performed a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study investigation with 61 patients with a genetically proved mitochondrial disease mainly composed of CPEO phenotype. Headache was examined using a standardized questionnaire, and classified according to ICHD-2. Headache-related disability was evaluated by the Headache-Impact-Test-6 (HIT-6). Additionally, depression and anxiety were examined using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Short-Form-Health Survey (SF-12) was used to investigate the health-related quality of life. Headache was reported by 43/61 (70.5%) of the patients. 35/61 patients (57.4%) described a Tension-type headache (TTH) and 26 patients (42.6%) a migraine. Patients reporting headache had a significantly higher HIT-6 score than those without (mean: 54.47 vs. 38.47, p < 0.001). The HIT-6 score was significantly higher in patients reporting a migraine compared to those with a tension-type headache (mean: 62.13 vs. 46.18, p < 0.001). In the HADS score and in the SF-12 were not significantly influenced by the occurrence of headache. This study confirms the previously reported frequent occurrence of headache in a large cohort of patients with a confirmed mitochondrial disease. Migraine had the greatest impact on daily living, which appeared not to be confounded by depression and anxiety. Thus, we conclude that Migraine may be a substantial contributor for burden of disease in patients with mitochondrial diseases.