Suicide in Primary Headaches in 48 Countries: A Physician-survey Based Study

Aim To investigate the relationship between primary headache types and accomplished or attempted suicide in countries from all world regions. Methods Data were obtained using a questionnaire about suicide due to headache in a face-to-face interview with 203 physicians with expertise in headaches. They came from 48 countries, and from all continents. Results Primary headaches cause one suicide per 1,000,000 population each year (1% of the suicide rate due to all causes). Cluster headache and migraines account for 70-80% of them. Suicide attempts are 10 times more frequent than accomplished suicides. Cluster headache poses more risk than migraine. This risk is not often acknowledged, and is increased if there is previous psychiatric history. More than half of the physicians interviewed think it could be reduced with a more aggressive treatment of headaches. Conclusions Cluster headache and migraine are not always benign, and are the cause of the majority of suicides due to headache.