Evidence Hub

Social cognition in chronic migraine with medication overuse: a cross-sectional study on different aspects of mentalization and social relationships

Sara Bottiroli, A. Rosi, G. Sances, M. Allena, R. De Icco, S. Lecce, T. Vecchi, C. Tassorelli et al.

The Journal of Headache and Pain, 2023

17 citations

Abstract

Background Social cognition refers to all mental operations to decipher information needed in social interactions. Here we aimed to outline the socio-cognitive profile of Chronic Migraine with Medication Overuse (CM + MO), given they are recognized to be at risk of socio-cognitive difficulties. Given the multidimensionality of this construct, we considered: (1) socio-cognitive abilities, (2) socio-cognitive beliefs, (3) alexithymia and autism traits, and (4) social relationships. Methods Seventy-one patients suffering from CM + MO, 61 from episodic migraine (EM), and 80 healthy controls (HC) were assessed with a comprehensive battery: (1) the Faux Pas test (FP), the Strange Stories task (SS), the Reading Mind in the Eyes test (RMET), (2) the Troms ø Social Intelligence Scale, (3) the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Autism Spectrum Quotient, (4) the Lubben Social Network Scale, the Friendship Scale. Results CM + MO: (1) performed similar to EM but worse than HC in the FP and SS, while they were worse than EM and HC in the RMET; (2) were similar to EM and HC in social intelligence; (3) had more alexithymic/autistic traits than EM and HC; (4) reported higher levels of contact with their family members but felt little support from the people around them than HC. Conclusions CM + MO results characterized by a profile of compromised socio-cognitive abilities that affects different dimensions. These findings may have a relevant role in multiple fields related to chronic headache:…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free