Identification of the Location of Migraine Pain in an Adult Population of a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Headache is the most common disorder that occurs in the general population and affects half of the world’s population. Several reasons have been associated with the cause of this disorder. It is one of the most regularly seen medical symptoms in many specialties in outpatient departments of hospitals. Migraine and Tension-type headache (TTH) are prevalent disorders, and in 2013 migraine was identified as the 6th common cause of disability. Aim: To identify the location of migraine pain in an adult population of a tertiary care hospital: Methodology: This study included 870 patients with migraine for more than 6 months duration. The data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire, and the patients that were on any medication and had 2 attacks of migraine each month were included in the study. ICHD-2 criteria were used to diagnose migraine and their subtypes. The assessment was performed at several stages: Results: In total, 870 patients, 350 (40.3%) were males, and 520 (59.7) were females. The mean age of patients was 24 years, and the mean duration of migraine was 5.6 years. In our study, 66% of patients were Sindhi, 27 % were Punjabi, and 7% belonged to other ethnic groups. A total of 49% of patients were experiencing unilateral onset in which ocular, frontal and temporal were observed as 50%, 11%, and 39%, respectively. Bilateral/central pain, typically bitemporal or at the vertex, was mentioned in 26% of the patients. In 25% of patients, the start of cervicooccipital discomfort was reported. Conclusions: This study inspects the site of pain in migraine patients during the outset and established migraines. More than half of the participants reported discomfort in the cervicooccipital area and bilaterally/centrally.