Study on some burden of primary headaches

Abstract

Background: Headaches are the most common and chronic condition in the population. Numerous studies have shown that primary headaches can affect a person's life and cause stress. Aim: to study some burden of primary headaches. Materials and Methods: The burden was assessed by the frequency, severity and duration of headache by each type of headache and by sex. Capacity loss due to headache was calculated for each type of headache. Economic loss was calculated multiplying number of individuals with headache by daily average wage and average of bed days. Results: Some 150 individuals were recruited to the cross-sectional study. 59% were people with tension-type headache and 13.8% of participants were medication-overuse headache. Average frequency of headache was 6.4 days per month, severity was in average 2.5. Functional burden was mostly from medication-overuse headache and migraine (р=0.001). Migraine’s ictal state was 12.5% of total attack duration. According to our estimate, women were more prone to the headache attributed lost time, especially at activities at home (p=0.043). The migraine attributed lost time index was 4.2%, higher than other primary headache. Economic burden from productivity loss was 6 million 600 thousand MNT for last three months. Conclusion: Primary headache, especially migraine and medication-overuse headaches, cause significant burden such as economic and productivity loss.