[10] Research has examined the economic burden of endometriosis, a type of CPP that is related to sexual pain and found that costs were high and comparable with other chronic diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease.[11] Headaches can also be commonly associated with somatic complaints and can be comorbid with psychological consequences such as depression. The chronicity of headaches appears to increase the severity and likelihood of somatic and depressive symptoms.[12] Chronic migraines are also reported to have a significant LY2157299 cell line economic burden, specifically in terms of productivity loss, overall costs, resource

utilization, and medication use.[13] Given the significant impact of CPP and chronic headache on patient health and the economy, more research is needed in this area. Because CPP and chronic headache commonly coexist in patients, research has compared patient reports on physical, psychological, and social measures in these chronic pain populations. For example, 1 study compared patients with CPP and chronic headache on pain levels, affective distress, depression, anxiety, personality function, and marital and sexual relationship satisfaction. Women in the chronic headache group reported greater pain severity

and obsessive-compulsive traits, while women in PI3K inhibitor the CPP group reported greater impairment in marital satisfaction and sexual ability.[14] The authors point out that the finding of greater pain severity in the chronic headache group may be due to the fact that these women presented with significantly longer duration of pain compared with women in the CPP group. Another study that examined both CPP and chronic headache indicated that pain was more frequent

and had a greater impact on the lives of those with pelvic pain (specifically endometriosis) compared with women with headache; however, social support scores were lower in women with headache. In addition, women with pelvic pain found that their health care providers (HCPs) doubted a physical etiology for their Protein kinase N1 symptoms and were less satisfied with care than women with migraines. Stress levels were no higher in the pelvic pain group than migraine.[15] Although research indicates differences in symptoms across studies for CPP and chronic headache, it is clear that women with these conditions suffer from a variety of issues. There is little research exploring the association of sexual pain and chronic headaches; however, Karp, Sinaii, Nieman, Silberstein, and Stratton reported the 1-year prevalence of migraine in women with pelvic pain to be 3 times that of the general population (53% vs 18%).[16] We do not know if these disorders are related, although there has been interest expressed by the National Vulvodynia Association to better understand how vulvodynia relates to other chronic pain disorders.