An Epidemiological Study of Headache in Florianopolis, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the 1-year prevalence of headache, migraine, tension-type headache (TTH) and chronic daily headache (CDH), and the degree of association of migraine with some sociodemographic characteristics of the population of Florianopolis, Brazil. This is a cross-sectional, door-to-door, population-based study. In 300 randomly selected households, 625 subjects, aged 15-64 years, responded to a structured questionnaire. The 1-year prevalence of headache was 80.8%, of migraine 22.1%, of TTH 22.9%, and of CDH 6.4%. Migraine and CDH were significantly more prevalent in females than in males. Migraine was significantly associated with the following variables: low household income, low electricity consumption, and divorced or widowed marital status. We have shown high prevalences of migraine and CDH in Florianopolis, close to the higher rates of previous studies. There was a preponderance of migraine in females, divorced or widowed, with a low socioeconomic level.

Prevalence and management of headache in a selected area of Southern Santa Catarina

“…Another factor confirmed by this study was the higher prevalence of headache among women, which has also been found in other studies 1,4,5 in which pain is often associated with emotional or hormonal triggering factors. Also related to the fact of being women, the use of oral contraceptive or the presence of regular menstruation were not associated with the incidence of headaches as described in the literature 4,23,24 .…”

“…The results showed a high prevalence of headaches in the population studied, which corroborates other studies developed in the country 4,5,22 , in which prevalence rates ranged from 48.1 percent to 80.8 percent.…”

“…Thus, it is emphasized that there was no association between the incidence of headache and white skin (Caucasian) as reported by the study of Pahim and collaborators 4 . Similarly, socioeconomic level was not significantly associated as demonstrated by Silberstein and collaborators 25 and Queiroz and collaborators 5 . Schooling level was another variable measured which showed no influence on this health problem, while Silva and collaborators 1 indicated the opposite.…”

“…Sample size was determined by the estimated prevalence of headache of 80.8% as indicated by Queiroz and collaborators 5 . Considering a significance level of 95% and an error of 5%, sample size of 238 individuals was determined, using the Epi Info TM version 6.0.…”

“…Very few people will experience no headache crisis during their lifetime. Headache prevalence is higher among women 1 , being related to gender 4,5 as well as to other factors, such as the use of hormonal birth control pills, white people 4 , low economic level, divorce or widowhood 5 , somatic symptoms 6 , menstrual cycle 7 , presence of comorbidities and higher risk for mental illness and other pain conditions 8 . For some, headaches become a limiting condition that interferes Headache: prevalence and management Corrêa et al…”