The aim of this study was to investigate central sensitization (CS) in chronic headaches and compare this phenomenon between chronic migraine (CM) and chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). We recruited 69 patients with chronic headaches and 18 control subjects. Questionnaires of headache history, allodynia and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale were administered. We recorded thresholds for pinprick and pressure pain, blink (BR) and nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) R3 component coupled with wind-up ratios. Thresholds for pressure and pinprick pain, BR and NFR R3 were lower and wind-up ratios higher in patients. No differences of CS parameters between CM and CTTH were observed. CS is persistent and prevalent in patients with various types of chronic headache. CS levels are unrelated to the predominant side of pain, disease duration or depression. Neither is CS related to the headache type, suggesting similar mechanisms of headache chronification and chronicity maintaining and possibly explaining clinical similarity of various forms of chronic headache.

BackgroundThe study was a collaboration between Lifting The Burden (LTB) and the European Headache Federation (EHF). Its aim was to evaluate the implementation of quality indicators for headache care Europe-wide in specialist headache centres (level-3 according to the EHF/LTB standard).MethodsEmploying previously-developed instruments in 14 such centres, we made enquiries, in each, of health-care providers (doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists) and 50 patients, and analysed the medical records of 50 other patients. Enquiries were in 9 domains: diagnostic accuracy, individualized management, referral pathways, patient’s education and reassurance, convenience and comfort, patient’s satisfaction, equity and efficiency of the headache care, outcome assessment and safety.ResultsOur study showed that highly experienced headache centres treated their patients in general very well. The centres were content with their work and their patients were content with their treatment. Including disability and quality-of-life evaluations in clinical assessments, and protocols regarding safety, proved problematic: better standards for these are needed. Some centres had problems with follow-up: many specialised centres operated in one-touch systems, without possibility of controlling long-term management or the success of treatments dependent on this.ConclusionsThis first Europe-wide quality study showed that the quality indicators were workable in specialist care. They demonstrated common trends, producing evidence of what is majority practice. They also uncovered deficits that might be remedied in order to improve quality. They offer the means of setting benchmarks against which service quality may be judged. The next step is to take the evaluation process into non-specialist care (EHF/LTB levels 1 and 2).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s10194-016-0707-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cognitive impairment has been described in all phases of a migraine attack and interictally. However, the prevalence and phenotype of such impairment in chronic migraine (CM) have not yet been studied. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate both the prevalence of the objective cognitive deficit in patients with CM and the factors underlying its etiology. Methods: 144 patients with CM and 44 age-matched patients with low-frequency episodic migraine (EM) (a maximum of 4 headache days per month) participated in this study. Neuropsychiatric characteristics were measured with the HADS Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Cognitive function was assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), and the Perceived Deficits Questionnaire (PDQ-20). Results: Compared to EM, CM subjects demonstrated higher subjective and objective cognitive impairment across all tests. CM patients had 4 times higher odds of achieving a RAVLT score in the lower quartile range compared to EM (Odds Ratio [OR] 3.8; 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 1.5‒9.6; р=0.005). In the MoCA, CM patients demonstrated the most striking impairment in memory/delayed recall (65.3%), attention (46.5%), abstraction (30.6%), and language (27.1%). Chronic headache and level of education, but not gender, depression or anxiety, were independent predictors of cognitive impairment. Conclusions: Cognitive impairment is prevalent in the CM population during their mildest possible pain and may be caused by a central sensitization. Timely preventive treatment of EM is warranted.

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The review is devoted to the complex relationship between headache and sleep disorders. The shared neuroanatomical structures of the nervous system involved in pain perception and sleep are shown, and mechanisms of comorbidity between headaches and sleep disorders are considered. Various types of headaches in the continuum of the sleep–wake cycle are described. Both pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches to treatment are examined in detail, with the biochemical basis of the drug action.