Prevalence and impact of primary headache disorders among students and working population in 18–25 years age group

Abstract

Background: Headache or cephalalgia is defined as pain in the head. Headache is an extremely common symptom that may have a profound impact on peoples' functioning and quality of life. According to International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD), they are Primary and Secondary hea daches. Primary Headaches are triggered by stress, alcohol, changes in sleep pattern, anxiety, poor posture, all of which are part and parcel our day-to-day life. The study was performed to investigate the prevalence of primary headache disorders and its severity of impact among students and working population in the age group 18 -25. Methods: The study was conducted on 718 subjects of which 483 subjects were medical and engineering students from the age group 18 - 21 and 235 subjects were working people from the age group 22-25. Written consent was taken from each of them. Headache Impact Test-6 (version 1.1) and the HARDSHIP Questionnaire by Timothy Steiner et al. were the questionnaires used to diagnose the severity of impact and the type of headache respect ively. The study was ethically approved by Ethical Clearance Board of MAHER University. People suffering from psychiatric illness were excluded from the study. Result: There was increased prevalence of migraine in the age group 18-21 and tension type headache in the age group 22-25.Over 50%of subjects from both the age groups had headaches that have substantial to severe impact on their lives. There was no significant gender variation in headache prevalence.