Use of cluster analysis to validate IHS diagnostic criteria for migraine and tension-type headache.

Cluster analysis was used to validate headache diagnostic criteria of the International Headache Society (IHS). Structured diagnostic interviews were conducted on 443 headache sufferers from a community sample, which was randomly split to allow replication. Hierarchical cluster analysis of symptoms in both subsamples revealed two distinct (P<.

Cardiovascular responses to pain and stress in migraine.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate how migrainous subjects and controls differ in their cardiovascular reactivity and recovery to a cognitive and an acute pain laboratory stressor.

Background: Prior research suggests that individuals subject to migraine may respond physiologically to pain and stress differently than controls.

Methods: Fifty-two women (26 with migraine and 26 controls) participated in a single laboratory session.

An examination of the validity of the IHS classification system for migraine and tension-type headache in the college student population.

The validity of the International Headache Society (IHS) classification system for college-aged students with headache was examined using cluster analysis. Undergraduate college student volunteers (N = 369) underwent a structured diagnostic interview for headaches, and the sample was divided into two subsamples for purposes of replication. A hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward's method) of the headache characteristics reported by the first subsample suggested a statistically distinct three-cluster solution, and the solution was replicated using the second subsample.

Appraisal and coping responses to pain and stress in migraine headache sufferers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how migraine headache sufferers and headache-free controls differ in their appraisal and coping responses to a cognitive (mental arithmetic) and a physical (cold pressor) laboratory stressor. Fifty-two women (26 migraine headache and 26 controls) completed the study. Results indicated that migraine sufferers rated the cold pressor task as significantly more painful compared to headache-free participants.

Cardiovascular and behavioral response to social confrontation: measuring real-life stress in the laboratory.

Laboratory investigations of cardiovascular reactivity to mental stress often ignore concomitant differences in cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses that are commonly observed among study participants. To provide a more systematic laboratory methodology to examine relations among cardiovascular, behavioral, and self-report measures of cognitive and affective responses to stress, we developed and tested a social confrontation procedure involving standardized interactions during two scenes. Results of three investigations are presented to illustrate the utility of the social confrontation procedure.