Morning headache linked to anxiety and depression

Although doctors often attribute patients’ chronic morning headaches to problems such as sleep apnea, they may signal anxiety, major depression or insomnia.

Stanford University sleep researcher Dr. Maurice M. Ohayon and his colleagues analyzed a survey of nearly 19,000 Europeans. On average, 7.6% of those surveyed reported having chronic morning headaches, with 1.3% of them having such headaches daily. Women were more likely to report headaches than men, and headaches were most common in those aged 45 to 64.

In the Jan. 12 Archives of Internal Medicine, Ohayon and his colleagues linked morning headaches to heavy drinking, anti-anxiety medications, sleep-related breathing problems and hypertension.

The most significant contributors to chronic morning headaches were the combination of anxiety and depression, depression alone and anxiety alone.

-- Jane E. Allen