Although unilateral pain location can be helpful in making a migraine diagnosis, it does not appear to have additional clinical implications, according to a recent study. Additionally, its absence does not rule out a diagnosis of migraine since more than half of migraineurs have bilateral head pain. Medical record information was extracted for 477 randomly selected patients with migraine seen in 2011 in a tertiary headache clinic. This included demographic data, pain location, handedness, comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, medical and emergency department visits, and use of selected headache medications. Researchers found:
- Of 477 patients, 228 (47.8%) reported lateralized pain, of which 107 (47.9%) patients were right-sided compared with 65 (28.5%) left-sided patients, while 56 (24.5%) reported unilateral pain with no side predominance.
- Contrary to expectations, with the exception of self-reported posttraumatic stress disorder, there were no statistically significant differences between left and right in measures of psychiatric distress, emergency department visits, or healthcare use.
Migraine pain location and measures of healthcare use and distress: An observational study. Pain Res Manag . 2018;6157982. doi:10.1155/2018/6157982.