Interictal Photophobia and Phonophobia Are Related to the Presence of Aura and High Frequency of Attacks in Patients with Migraine

• Published in: Applied sciences 2021-03, Vol.11 (6), p.2474
• Main Authors: Pinheiro, Carina F., Moreira, Jessica R., Carvalho, Gabriela F., Zorzin, Leticia, Dach, Fabiola, Bevilaqua-Grossi, Debora
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustics; Age; auditory discomfort; Discomfort; Fear & phobias; Headache; Headaches; hypersensitivity; Hypotheses; Likert scale; Migraine; Questionnaires; Variance analysis; visual discomfort
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app11062474

Background: Despite that photophobia and phonophobia are well-known symptoms related to migraine, it is unclear whether they affect daily life activities during the headache-free period. Objective: To evaluate the interictal photophobia/phonophobia intensity during daily activities in migraineurs and non-headache individuals. Methods: Women with migraine without aura (MoA, n = 30), migraine with aura (MA, n = 30), chronic migraine (CM, n = 30) and without headache (CG, n = 30) reported the photophobia and phonophobia intensity during daily activities using a Likert scale ranging from 0 (no discomfort) to 10 (maximum discomfort). Results: The migraine groups reported higher intensity of interictal photophobia and phonophobia than CG during “driving” and “social situations”, respectively (p < 0.05). MA and CM groups presented higher intensity of phonophobia than CG, hearing sounds in everyday situations and listening to conversations in noisy places (p < 0.05). Also, the MA group presented higher interictal phonophobia than the CG to keep concentration in noisy places (p < 0.05). Weak positive correlations were observed between the intensity of both photophobia and phonophobia with migraine intensity, frequency of migraine and frequency of aura (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Interictally, the intensity of photophobia and phonophobia reported during daily activities is higher in patients with migraine, especially those with aura and chronic migraine, than in non-headache subjects.