The Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Migraine Disorder, Tension Headache and Epilepsy

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has already rapidly spread around the world as a pandemic after its first report in Wuhan, China on December 12th 2019 ( Holshue ML et al .,2019 ). As of December 27th 2020, there were more than 79.2 million confirmed cases and more than 1.7 million deaths caused by COVID-19 worldwide (WHO,2020).

Migraine& tension headacheare considered one of the most disabling chronic neurological diseases, and patients with migraine or tension headache are particularly vulnerable to drastic negative impacts of the pandemic. From heightened levels of psychosocial stress, social isolation , disruption of sleep and dietary habits ,to several COVID-19-specific concerns.

Normally, people with epilepsy (PWE)patients are very sensitive to different factors such as physical or emotional disturbances or environmental and lifestyle changes.Many factors can increase the risk of seizures,i.e., illness and fever, stressful events, sleep deprivation,changes in antiepileptic drugs (AED),use of proconvulsive treatments,to name a few.Some are unavoidable during a sociosanitary crisis like that currently being experienced.

Because of the rapid increase of infections, Government enacted a national state of emergency, limiting public mobility and compelling home confinement and social isolation. This national lockdown, in addition to the direct effects of COVID-19, have dramatically altered the lifestyle and normal routines of the entire population.Therefore, in addition to the risk of neurological involvement that COVID-19 itself has, during the pandemic,different circumstances may negatively impact on seizure control in PWE.