Total Migraine Research Articles

Prevalence and clinical characteristics of migraine in France.

To determine the prevalence and clinical features of migraine and related headache types in France. The authors recruited a population of subjects with headache representative of the national population using a stratified sampling method. They screened 10,585 subjects aged 15 and older who were representative of the general population. They identified 1,486 of these as having headaches, and these subjects were subsequently interviewed for information on clinical features, natural history, and functional impact of headache. The authors categorized subjects based on the International Headache Society (IHS) classification and assessed disability using the MIDAS questionnaire. The authors found a standardized prevalence for migraine (IHS categories 1.1 and 1.2) of 7.9% (11.2% for women and 4.0% for men) and 9.1% for migrainous disorder (IHS category 1.7). Migraine attacks were associated with a considerable degree of handicap in activities of daily living, with a MIDAS grade distribution of 74.7% (grade 1), 13.3% (grade 2), 7.7% (grade 3), and 4.3% (grade 4). The prevalence of migraine with MIDAS grade 3 or 4 was 1.6%. The prevalence of migraine (IHS categories 1.1 and 1.2) in France is 7.9%, and that of total migraine is 17.0%; this does not seem to have evolved over the past 10 years.

Migraine headaches and panic attacks.

Migraine headache and panic attacks are two common conditions which first occur at an early age and appear to have a number of underlying physiologic abnormalities in common. In a population-based telephone interview survey examining headache occurrence in approximately 10,000 subjects, 12-29 years old, we assessed the prevalence of panic disorder (and a less severe entity designated as panic syndrome) using an abbreviated version of the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Survey. Subjects with panic disorder or panic syndrome reported more frequent occurrence of headaches during the preceding week, as well as headaches of longer duration and substantially more headaches with migraine symptoms than individuals without a history of panic attack. Males with panic disorder were 7 times more likely than those without this condition to report the occurrence of a migraine headache in the previous week. In addition, 5.5% of males and 9.5% of females with panic disorder or panic syndrome reported 25% of the total migraine headaches described by all study subjects in the one-week recall period.

Allergy to Propionates

To the Editor:— Contrary to recently published opinion ( JAMA 184 :1061 [June 29] 1963), allergy to propionates occurs. Diagnosis can be made by means of elimination regimens or by direct testing. Awareness is a prerequisite. Years passed before I became aware of the possibility of such an allergy. Difficulty usually begins with upper gastrointestinal phenomena, after a latent period of approximately 4 to 18 hours, and culminates in partial or total migraine. Gastrointestinal symptoms are not unlike those characterizing gallbladder pathological conditions or upper small bowel ileus. Scotoma always introduces total migraine, but, not infrequently, pain and tenderness in one eyeball or hemicrania (pain and tenderness along an ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve) alone may be experienced. Symptoms are worse when gallbladder pathology is present and lessen after cholecystectomy. The reaction, nevertheless, occurs in the absence of detectable gastrointestinal pathology. In the allergic patient it follows ingestion of a