Sensory, affective and evaluative features in patients with chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache

Migraine and tension headache are the most common types of headaches in all age categories all over the world. Because of its high prevalence, these pathologies have the greatest social and economic impact over other primary headaches. Thorough collection of complaints and anamnesis of the patient with headache, as well as the use of questionnaires and pain scales, still remain key methods for diagnosing primary headaches. The bright clinical characteristics of the pain syndrome are diminished because of chronic headache, which complicates diagnosis and reduces patient treatment effectiveness. The majority of the population is affected by chronic pain, which is a significant personal and socio-economic burden. Chronic constant pain with the component of affective arousal can have an impact on a patient’s quality of life, daily activities, psychological state, and overall well-being. The use of scales and questionnaires allows you to measure the intensity and other features of pain. The McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) is a complex multidimensional tool that covers both neurophysiological and psychological aspects of pain. MPQ examines not only the intensity of pain, but also the quality of pain (sensory, affective, evaluative, and quantitative pain parameters). MPQ can provide more clinical information about pain in patients with chronic headache. In the present study, we compared the effectiveness of using the MPQ questionnaire in patients with chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache. It was determined that the use of this questionnaire is a useful auxiliary method of differential diagnosis of chronic primary headaches.