Risk and reward seeking behaviour in episodic cluster headache - a psychometric and behavioural study

Background:

Anecdotally, people with cluster headache (CH) seem to have an increased tendency towards risk-reward seeking. 

Methods: 

We assessed and compared risk-reward seeking behaviour in people with either episodic CH (ECH), chronic CH (CCH), migraine (M) or without regular headaches (HC) (N = 35 in each group) with (i) two rounds of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and (ii) eight psychometric questionnaires. 

Results: 

Participants with ECH scored higher on the total Zuckerman sensation seeking scale compared to all groups (21.8 [95% CI: 18.6 to 24.9] vs. CCH: 8.2 [95% CI: 3.9 to 12.4], M: 6.9 [95% CI: 2.9 to 11.0], or HC: 6.6 [95% CI: 2.8 to 10.4]) indicating an increased tendency towards risk seeking behaviour. In contrast, people with CCH showed a lower numbers of mean pumps (Δ -6.4 [95% CI: -12.3 to -0.6], corrected mean pumps (Δ -10.6 [95% CI: -20.9 to -0.3]) and popped balloons (Δ -2.3 [95% CI: -4.5 to -0.1]) compared to ECH and a lower number of mean pumps compared to controls (Δ -5.9 [95% CI: -11.7 to -0.05]) in the second BART round, indicating lower risk seeking behaviour. 

Conclusions: 

While risk-reward seeking behaviour was increased in ECH according to the Zuckerman questionnaire, this was decreased in CCH according to the BART. We hypothesize that there is an inherent increase in risk-reward seeking behaviour in CH, which is dampened in the chronic form of the disease.