Table 2.
Psychological characteristics by patient group.
| Headache consulters | Referred to neurologist | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illness beliefs | Total n | n | % | Total n | n | % | OR (95% CI)a | P-valuea |
| Purely or mainly physical | 240 | 123 | 51 | 45 | 30 | 67 | 1.91 (0.86 to 4.23) | 0.11 |
| Beliefs about headaches (IPQ-R) | n | mean | SD | n | mean | SD | Mean difference (95% CI)1 | P-valuea |
| Timeline (acute) | 232 | 20.0 | 0.3 | 40 | 20.7 | 0.8 | 0.10 (−0.27 to 0.48) | 0.590 |
| Timeline (cyclic) | 231 | 12.3 | 0.2 | 41 | 12.4 | 0.4 | 0.09 (−0.11 to 0.28) | 0.380 |
| Consequences | 237 | 17.9 | 0.3 | 40 | 19.2 | 0.8 | 0.23 (−0.03 to 0.48) | 0.079 |
| Personal control | 227 | 18.3 | 0.3 | 41 | 18.8 | 0.6 | 0.09 (−0.12 to 0.30) | 0.390 |
| Treatment control | 229 | 16.6 | 0.2 | 40 | 17.4 | 0.5 | 0.16 (−0.03 to 0.35) | 0.098 |
| Illness coherence | 228 | 16.4 | 0.3 | 39 | 16.5 | 0.8 | 0.06 (−0.30 to 0.42) | 0.743 |
| Emotional representation | 237 | 17.8 | 0.3 | 41 | 19.7 | 0.7 | 0.34 (0.10 to 0.59) | 0.006 |
| Emotional representations (IPQ-R) | n | median | IQR | n | median | IQR | Mean difference (95% CI)a | P-valuea |
| I get depressed when I think about my headaches | 239 | 3 | 2–4 | 41 | 3 | 2–4 | 0.32 (−0.08 to 0.72) | 0.120 |
| When I think about my headaches I get upset | 241 | 2 | 2–4 | 43 | 3 | 2–4 | 0.38 (−0.03 to 0.78) | 0.068 |
| My headaches make me feel angry | 242 | 3 | 2–4 | 43 | 3 | 2–4 | –0.01 (−0.48 to 0.46) | 0.968 |
| My headaches do not worry meb | 241 | 4 | 3–4 | 43 | 4 | 4–5 | 0.44 (0.26 to 0.63) | <0.001 |
| Having headaches makes me feel anxious | 240 | 3 | 2–4 | 43 | 4 | 3–4 | 0.30 (0.01 to 0.60) | 0.044 |
| My headaches make me feel afraid | 239 | 2 | 2–4 | 43 | 3 | 2–4 | 0.43 (−0.03 to 0.88) | 0.064 |
| Illness identity (IPQ-R) | n | mean | SD | n | mean | SD | Mean difference (95% CI)a | P-valuea |
| Headache-related symptoms | 232 | 7.1 | 4.91 | 40 | 8.8 | 5.0 | 1.84 (0.42 to 3.27) | 0.011 |
a
Estimates adjusted for age and sex; CIs and P-values adjusted for clustering by GP.
b
Scale reversed so that higher values indicate greater emotional response. IPQ-R = Illness Perception Questionnaire (revised). IQR = inter quartile range. OR = odds ratios.