The following is a summary of “Postdromal symptoms in migraine: a REFORM study,” published in the February 2024 issue of Pain by Thuraiaiyah et al.

Despite limited existing research, this study investigates the prevalence of postdromal symptoms (migraine hangover) in individuals with migraine, following strict diagnostic criteria.

They conducted the REFORM study with adult migraine patients who self-reported postdromal symptoms without prompting. Afterward, a 16-item checklist was employed to confirm these symptoms with prompting. Clinical features were gathered via semi-structured interviews. Additionally, electronic surveys were utilized to evaluate disease impact, including the HIT-6, MIDAS, and WHODAS 2.0.

The results showed 631 migraine participants, a more significant percentage experiencing at least one prompted postdromal symptom (n = 509 [80.7%]) compared to unprompted reporting (n = 421 [66.7%], P<0.001). Moreover, there was a higher median number of postdromal symptoms with prompted reporting ( [IQR 1 – 6]) versus unprompted ([IQR 0 – 2]; P<0.001). Additionally, the likelihood of reporting postdromal symptoms increased with premonitory symptoms and decreased with more monthly migraine days. Weak correlations were found between postdromal symptoms and HIT-6 (ρ = 0.14; P<0.001) and WHODAS scores (ρ =0.15; P<0.001), while no correlation was seen with MIDAS score (ρ = 0.08; P=0.054).

Investigators concluded that common postdromal symptoms in migraine patients, but estimates vary, and the impact on disease burden is minimal.

Source: thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-024-01716-3