Migraine and Tension Type Headaches among the Medical Staffs in Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Headache is one of the mos t common pain syndromes in humans, which can lead to social and occupational dysfunctions. The aim of this s tudy was to inves tigate the prevalence of migraine and tension type headache (TTH) among the s taffs of Sina Hospital, The prevalence of migraine and TTH was evaluated in relation to psychological and sociodemographic variables. Required information was collected through a ques tionnaire and the diagnosis of the type of headache was confirmed by a neurologis t. Results: The total prevalence of headaches within our s tudy population was 129 cases among 590 subjects (21.8%), of which 58 (9.8%) subjects were migraineurs, 67 (11.3%) subjects had TTH, and 4 (0.67%) people had both TTH and migraine. These headaches were significantly higher in nurses, staffs with a bachelor's degree or above, s taffs with an average daily working hours of more than 8 hours, and s taffs working in the morning shift. TTH had also a significant relationship with psychological characteris tics, such as depression, fatigue, and job dissatisfaction. Job absenteeism, referral to physicians, and inability to do routine works during their headache periods were significantly higher in s taffs with migraine headaches compared to TTH.Conclusion: TTH and migraine headaches had a significant relationship with the type of job, educational levels, and type of work shifts. In addition, migraine headaches had more negative effects on the quality of work compared to TTH.