ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
It is estimated that up to 40% of patients with migraine have at least one episode of major depression during their lifetime. On the other hand, patients with depression are twice as likely to suffer from migraine when compared to the population without the mood disorder. The comorbidity of both conditions increases the frequency of pain crises and the individual’s disability. A therapy that could act on the disorders, when simultaneous, would offer advantages through a broader and more effective action, such as botulinum toxin (BTX). Due to the lack of a clear definition on the subject, the objective of this study was to review how the concomitant treatment with BTX of the two morbidities behaves.
CONTENTS:
A review of articles in English, Portuguese, and Spanish indexed in Pubmed/Medline, LILACS and Scielo databases was carried out. Of the eight articles selected, most individuals were women aged 40 to 50 years. The sample size ranged from 30 to 715 subjects. The predominance was of prospective studies. All studies found a significant reduction in pain. Six studies found a significant decrease in depression. The frequency of adverse effects ranged from 4.1% to 30%, with eyelid ptosis and headache being the most frequent.
CONCLUSION:
BTX seems to be useful for the treatment of chronic headache and depression. There was a tendency to relate the improvement in depression with the decrease in pain. The specific action of the toxin in the treatment of depression was inconclusive. New studies, with high methodological rigor, as well as systematic reviews, should be carried out to reach a greater depth of comprehension of the subject and to determine the real efficacy of BTX in relieving concomitant headache and depression.
Keywords:
Depression; Botulinum toxins type A; Disorder headache