Self-perceived attention deficit and hyperactivity symptom levels and risk of non-migraine and migraine headaches among university students: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objectives The aim was to evaluate the association of self-perceived levels of attention deficit and hyperactivity symptoms with non-migraine and migraine headaches among university students. We also evaluated their association with migraine aura. Methods Study subjects were all participants in the internet-based Students Health Research Enterprise. Scores were built to evaluate global attention and hyperactivity symptom levels, self-perceived attention deficit levels and self-perceived hyperactivity symptom levels based on the Adult Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Scale (ASRS v1.1.). We used standardised questions to classify headache and group participants into “no headache,” “non-migraine headache,” “migraine without aura” or “migraine with aura”. Results A total of 4816 students were included (mean age 20.3 ± 2.8 years; 75.5% women). Compared with participants without headache, we found significant associations between global ADHD scores and migraine. Students in the highest quintile of global ASRS scores had adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 1.95 (95% CI 1.56–2.45) when compared to the lowest. This association was mainly driven by an association between self-perceived hyperactivity and migraine with aura. The aOR for migraine with aura was 2.83 (95% CI 2.23–3.61) for students in the highest quintile of hyperactivity. No significant association was found for any attention and hyperactivity symptom level measure and non-migraine headache and between self-perceived levels of attention deficit and migraine. Conclusions Among students in higher education in France, self-perceived levels of attention deficit and hyperactivity symptoms were selectively associated with migraine. The association was strongest for the hyperactivity domain and migraine with aura.

Auditory attention alterations in migraine: A behavioral and MEG/EEG study

“…In the visual modality, migraineurs were also found to present a heightened involuntary attentional orienting, a decreased ability to suppress unattended stimuli in the periphery, and abnormalities in top-down attentional processes (Mickleborough et al, 2011a). This is corroborated by reports of self-perceived attentional difficulties by migraineurs (Carpenet et al, 2019;Lévêque et al, 2020;Sacks, 1992). Furthermore, some clinic-based studies using neurophysiological tests revealed that migraine had a moderate effect on attentional performances during the interictal period (reviewed in Vuralli et al, 2018).…”

“…This is quite consistent with anecdotal reports from migraineurs where they mention being easily distracted by their environment (Sacks, 1992). Migraineurs report higher self-perceived levels of attention difficulty than healthy controls (Carpenet et al, 2019;Lévêque et al, 2020). It is noteworthy that there exists a comorbidity of migraine with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Fasmer et al, 2012;Paolino et al, 2015;Salem et al, 2017).…”

Top-down inhibition of irrelevant information indexed by alpha rhythms is disrupted in migraine

“…Migraine has been associated with attentional abnormalities through subjective reports [15,52,78], neuropsychological tests [89,92], or EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs) studies [65].…”

“…Migraine has been associated with attentional abnormalities through subjective reports [15,52,78], neuropsychological tests [89,92], or EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs) studies [65]. However, little is known on the functional role of brain oscillations in the disruption of attention in migraine.…”

“…However, in the last decade, converging pieces of evidence have suggested that dysfunctional attention processing of sensory inputs may also participate in migraineurs’ hypersensitivity, especially during the attack-free period. Migraineurs self-report attention difficulties in everyday life [15,52] and these difficulties correlate with multimodal sensory sensibility between attacks [52]. Migraineurs display increased electrophysiological markers of attention orienting to incoming stimuli [20,61,64,67], which could be related to the dysfunction of the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) [54,55,61,63].…”