Line bisection performance in right-handed primary headache sufferers.

CONTEXT In previous studies, patients with migraine and tension-type headaches have shown asymmetries at the central nervous system level. AIMS Hence we would like to figure out whether the lateral cerebral dominance might be more pronounced in the line bisection performance with these patients. SETTINGS AND DESIGN Patients were enrolled in a specialized headache clinic and healthy volunteers from a community as controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS The visual line bisection is used to test the unilateral neglect of subjects. Altogether, we studied 28 patients with chronic tension-type, 16 frequent episodic tension-type headache, 31 migraine patients without aura between attacks and 146 healthy volunteers. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS One-way ANOVA was applied to the mean Index and Net of line bisection errors and the Spearman rank order to the relationship between the Index, Net, subject's age and time since onset of head pain. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS As reflected by group means of Index of line bisection errors, healthy subjects and migraine patients bisected slightly rightward. Conversely, both forms of tension-type headache sufferers bisected significantly leftward compared to the healthy subjects as well as the migraine sufferers. The study indicates relatively strong right or weak left hemisphere activation or both in the two forms of tension-type headaches, confirming the central nervous system alterations in such patients.