Prevalence and socio-demographic characteristics of persons who have never had a headache among healthy voluntary blood donors – a population-based study

Abstract

Introduction Headache is an extremely prevalent disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 90–99%. However, a small fraction of people never experiences a headache. Research on people without headache could uncover protective factors in headache, but to our knowledge no study on headache-free individuals has been published. We aim to estimate the prevalence of headache-free individuals among Danish blood donors, and to describe the socio-demographics and health factors of headache-free participants. Materials and methods In all, 38,557 healthy volunteers were recruited as part of the Danish Blood Donor Study. Headache-free participants were identified based on the question “Have you ever experienced a headache of any kind?”. Utilising the Danish registries and self-reported questionnaires, we analysed socio-demographic and lifestyle factors using logistic regression adjusted for age and sex. Results The prevalence of headache-free individuals was 4.1% (n = 1362) with a female-male ratio of 1:2.2. To be headache free was significantly associated with an employment status as a student, a low level of income and a regular alcohol consumption. Discussion The prevalence of headache-free individuals was comparable to population-wide studies of headache. To be headache free was not associated with a high socio-economic status. Further studies on people without headache will hopefully reveal protective factors in headache, and this novel approach might be useful in other very prevalent disorders.

Pain sensitivity in men who have never experienced a headache: an observer blinded case control study

“…The primary headache disorders, migraine and tension type headache, have lifetime prevalences of 16–25% and 78–89%, respectively [ 1 , 4 , 5 ]. Based on the question “Do you think that you never ever in your whole life have had a headache?”, 4% of the population report that they are free from headache [ 1 , 6 ]. The rarity of never having had a headache suggests that distinct biological or environmental factors may be at play.…”

“…The rarity of never having had a headache suggests that distinct biological or environmental factors may be at play. We previously described a group of headache free people regarding several socio-demographic factors, but found only small differences compared with a matched control group [ 6 ].…”

“…Based on the question "Do you think that you never ever in your whole life have had a headache? ", 4% of the population report that they are free from headache [1,6]. The rarity of never having had a headache suggests that distinct biological or environmental factors may be at play.…”

Have you ever experienced a headache of any kind?

“…I read with interest the article by Olofsson et al., reporting an estimate of lifetime headache freedom among a large cohort of healthy blood donors (1). The authors hypothesize that this group may provide insight into novel protective factors.…”

Letter to the editor regarding “Have you ever experienced a headache of any kind?”

“…We thank Dr. Smith for the interest in our article “Prevalence and socio-demographic characteristics of persons who have never had a headache among healthy voluntary blood donors – a population-based study” (1) and for the important comments and suggestions for future research.…”