Headache disorders and public ill-health in India: prevalence estimates in Karnataka State

The Journal of Headache and Pain

Research Article

Girish N Rao¹  Gopalkrishna Gururaj¹  Girish B Kulkarni²  Timothy J Steiner³  Lars J Stovner⁴ 

[1] Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India;Department of Neurology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India;Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Edvard Griegs Gate, NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway;Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK;Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Edvard Griegs Gate, NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway;Norwegian Advisory Unit on Headaches, Nevrosenteret Øst, St Olavs University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway;

关键词: Headache disorders;    Migraine;    Tension-type headache;    Medication-overuse headache;    Epidemiology;    Population-based study;    Prevalence;    Health policy;    Global Campaign against Headache;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s10194-015-0549-x

 received in 2015-05-11, accepted in 2015-06-29,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPrimary headache disorders are among the commonest disorders, affecting people in all countries. India appears to be no exception, although reliable epidemiological data on headache in this highly populous country are not available. Such information is needed for health-policy purposes. Our aim was to estimate the prevalence of each of the headache disorders of public-health importance, and examine their sociodemographic associations, in urban and rural populations of Karnataka, south India.MethodsIn a door-to-door survey, 2,329 biologically unrelated adults (aged 18–65 years) were randomly sampled from urban (n = 1,226) and rural (n = 1,103) areas in and around Bangalore and interviewed by trained researchers using a pilot-tested, validated, structured questionnaire. ICHD-II diagnostic criteria were applied.ResultsThe observed 1-year prevalence of any headache was 63.9 %, with a female preponderance of 4:3. The age-standardised 1 year prevalence of migraine was 25.2 %; prevalence was higher among females than males (OR: 2.1 [1.7-2.6]) and among those from rural areas than urban (OR = 1.5 [1.3-1.8]). The age-standardized 1 year prevalence of TTH was 35.1 %, higher among younger people. The estimated prevalence of all headache on ≥15 days/month was 3.0 %; that of pMOH was 1.2 %, five-times greater among females than males and with a rural preponderance.ConclusionsThere is a very high 1 year prevalence of migraine in south India (the mean global prevalence is estimated at 14.7 %). Explanations probably lie in cultural, lifestyle and/or environmental factors, although the observed associations with female gender and rural dwelling are usual. Levels of TTH, pMOH and other headache on ≥15 days/month are similar to global averages, while the very strong association of pMOH with female gender requires explanation. Until another study is conducted in the north of the country, these are the best data available for health policy in a population of over 1.2 billion people.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Kulkarni et al. 2015. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.