Tension-type headache (TTH) and fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) are worldwide seen chronic pain syndromes of unknown etiology. Despite the growing body of data on pathophysiology and generation mechanisms of pain; our knowledge on pain mechanisms in both FM and TTH is yet to be limited.
We investigated the plasma nitrite levels, total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), and oxidative stress index (OSI) in 35 TTH, 33 FM patients and 31 healthy controls.
The mean plasma nitrite levels and TAS levels were significantly low and OSI was found to be significantly high in TTH and FM groups compared to the control group (p=0.001, p=0.001, p=0.001 and p=0.001, respectively). The mean serum TOS levels were also significantly higher in FM group according to the control group (p=0.034), but there was not a significant difference between TTH and control groups (p=0.066).
These results indicated that; FM and TTH patients revealed higher oxidative stress index and lower total nitrite levels than healthy controls. We conclude that oxidative stress may have a role in the pathophysiological mechanisms of TTH and FM, although, whether it is the cause or the consequence, is not clear.