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Headaches in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a comparative study

Department of Rheumatology, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Tygerberg, South Africa, dwhit{at}sun.ac.za

F Hugo

Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Tygerberg, South Africa

J J Spangenberg

Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Tygerberg, South Africa

R Rickman

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Tygerberg, South Africa

The incidence and nature of headaches in 85 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients attending an outpatient clinic were studied and compared to those experienced by 61 nurses. The two groups were similar in age, sex and ethnicity. Test-retest assessment of reliability gave both groups 95% confidence limits of 0.09-0.21. Thirty-two (38%) patients developed migrainous headaches and nine (10%) stress headaches with the onset of lupus. In the control group, four (6%) developed migraine and 40 (66%) developed stress headaches on commencing work. We could not document any association of headaches with flares of systemic disease, the ACA syndrome, Raynaud’s phenomenon or increased SLEDAI score. We conclude that migrainous headaches are more common in lupus patients than healthy controls, but in an outpatient setting are not statistically associated with flares of systemic disease.

Key Words: ACA syndrome • control group • lupus activity • migraine • stress factors

Lupus, Vol. 13, No. 7, 501-505 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0961203304lu1050oa


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