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Background and Purpose: Cluster headache (CH), which affects 0.1% of the population, is one of the most painful human conditions: despite adequate treatment, the frequent and severe headaches cause a significant burden to the patients. According to a small number of previous studies, CH has a serious negative effect on the sufferers' quality of life (QOL). In the current study, we set out to examine the quality of life of the CH patients attending our outpatient service between 2013 and 2016, using generic and headache-specific QOL instruments., Methods: A total of 42 CH patients (16 females and 26 males; mean age: 39.1±13.5 years) completed the SF-36 generic QOL questionnaire and the headache- specific CHQQ questionnaire (Comprehensive Headache- related Quality of life Questionnaire), during the active phase of their headache. Their data were compared to those of patients suffering from chronic tension-type headache (CTH) and to data obtained from controls not suffering from significant forms of headache, using Kruskal-Wallis tests., Results: During the active phase of the CH, the patients' generic QOL was significantly worse than that of normal controls in four of the 8 domains of the SF-36 instrument. Apart from a significantly worse result in the 'Bodily pain' SF-36 domain, there were no significant differences between the CH patients' and the CTH patients' results. All the dimensions and the total score of the headache-specific CHQQ instrument showed significantly worse QOL in the CH group than in the CTH group or in the control group., Conclusion: Cluster headache has a significant negative effect on the quality of life. The decrease of QOL experienced by the patients was better reflected by the headache-specific CHQQ instrument than by the generic SF-36 instrument.

Background and Purpose: Medication overuse headache (MOH) is a common form of disabling headache presenting in as much as 30% of the patients seen in headache subspecialty practice. Quality of life (QOL) is frequently used as a secondary endpoint in headache trials. In MOH, previous trials of QOL focused mostly on generic QOL. We report the results of a pilot study that examined the feasibility of using a new QOL questionnaire, the 23-item Comprehensive Headache-related Quality of life Questionnaire (CHQQ), as an indicator of treatment response in MOH., Patients and Methods: Fifteen patients (13 women and two men; mean age: 39.7 +/- 12.5 years) suffering from MOH were enrolled in a complex treatment programme consisting of acute medication withdrawal, preventive pharmacological treatment, structured advice and lifestyle intervention. The clinical data were collected using a detailed headache diary. CHQQ was completed before and after the treatment programme., Results: MOH patients had low QOL values at baseline which was comparable to the QOL of episodic migraine patients. The treatment programme resulted in significant reductions of the number of headache days and attacks, headache severity and analgesic consumption. The dimensions and total score of CHQQ showed a significant increase after the treatment period. Seventeen of CHQQ's 23 individual items also improved significantly., Conclusion: In this study the new headache-specific quality of life instrument CHQQ was able to demonstrate significant improvements after adequate treatment of MOH. This result indicates that the CHQQ may be an adequate tool for assessing quality of life in headache treatment trials.

Background: Measuring quality of life (QOL) is an important means of assessing the impact of headache. The currently used QOL questionnaires are usually geared toward migraine and focus on a limited number of factors, thus they are not necessarily informative in other headache types. We report the psychometric properties of a new questionnaire, the Comprehensive Headache-related Quality of life Questionnaire (CHQQ) that may be more sensitive to the burden of headache., Patients and Methods: A total of 202 patients suffering from migraine (n = 168) or tension-type headache (TTH) (n = 34) completed the CHQQ and SF-36, a generic QOL questionnaire. We assessed the reliability and validity of the CHQQ and its physical, mental and social dimensions., Results: The questionnaire was easy to administer. Reliability was excellent with Cronbach's alpha being 0.913 for the whole instrument (0.814-0.832 for its dimensions). The dimensions and total score showed significant correlations with the patients' headache characteristics (criterion validity), and were also significantly correlated with the SF-36 domains (convergent validity). The total score and dimensions were significantly (p < 0.005) lower in the migraine group than in the TTH group (discriminative validity)., Conclusion: In this study the new headache-specific QOL instrument showed adequate psychometric properties.

Background: The deleterious effect of primary headaches on the sufferers' quality of life (QOL) has been abundantly documented using both generic and headache-specific instruments. The currently used questionnaires focus on a limited number of factors and therefore may not be sensitive enough to detect the effect of headache type and headache characteristics on QOL, despite the obvious clinical differences. We have devised a comprehensive questionnaire that may be more sensitive to the burden of headache., Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of the new questionnaire on a group of migraineurs., Patients and Method: We studied 117 migraineurs who completed the validated Hungarian version of the SF-36 generic QOL measure and our new, 25-item questionnaire. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency, measured by Cronbach's alpha of all items. Content validity was examined by calculating the correlation of the items with subscales of the SF-36 measure. The correlation of the patients' migraine characteristics with the questionnaire's items was used to assess criterion validity., Results: The questionnaire was quick and easy to administer. The questionnaire demonstrated good reliability, with Cronbach's alpha being 0.893. Content validity was adequate; most "physical" items of the new questionnaire showed significant correlations with the bodily pain and role physical SF-36 subscales and most "psychical" and "social" items were correlated with mental health and social functioning SF-36 subscales. Criterion validity was adequate, with headache severity being correlated with most of the items., Discussion: In this study the new headache-specific quality of life instrument showed adequate psychometric properties.

Health-related quality of life was studied in 35 episodic cluster headache (CH) patients during and after the cluster period, using a generic (SF-36) and a headache-specific (MSQ2.1) instrument. The results were compared with those of age- and sex-matched migraineurs (n = 53) and healthy persons (n = 62). During the cluster period patients had lower scores than controls in all SF-36 and MSQ2.1 domains. The difference was significant for most SF-36 and all MSQ2.1 domains. Although CH patients had lower scores than migraineurs on most scales, the difference was significant only on SF-36 scores measuring bodily pain and social functioning. There was a good correlation between the two instruments. After the termination of the cluster period the quality of life of patients was similar to that of headache-free controls. Generic and headache-specific QoL are severely impaired in CH and this impairment is at least as severe as in migraine.