Epidemiology of headache in Bukovinian medical students

Abstract

Introduction: Headaches are the most prevalent neurological disorder and among the most frequent symptoms in general practice. Headache disorder is a major public health issue and is a great burden for a person, health care system, and a society. Most people having headache do not ask for a specialized medical care and take analgesics without any control, which complicates the statistical analysis of the actual prevalence of cephalgias among the population. Aim: to reveal the prevalence of headache among the medical students and to draw their attention to the need for a differentiated approach to treatment. Materials and Methods: We conducted a survey of 146 students of Bukovynian State Medical University aged 19 to 26 years by using specially designed questionnaires. The type of headache was established by diagnostic criteria of the classification of the International Headache Society, 2003. Results: Our study has found that headaches bother 121 (82.8%) students. Among respondents periodic headache was observed in 71.9% (105 students). 16 (10.1%) students experienced chronic headaches that bothered them more than 15 days a month. Among girls the prevalence of headache was significantly higher than among men - 62.1% and 38.9% respectively. Among the students the most frequent headache (58.7%) was tension headache, 9.1% of respondents had migraine headache, 32.2% felt other types of headaches. According to ICHD II, infrequent episodic tension-type headache amounted to 71.3%, frequent episodic tension-type headache - 26.2%, chronic tension-type headache - 2 5%. Because of headache 81.7% of students are forced to take analgesics: 65.3% - 1-4 times a month, 27.6% - 5-9 times per month, 7.1% - more than 10 times per month. The majority of students did not consult the doctor, and independently used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or antispasmodics. Conclusion: By means of the research there was found a high prevalence of headaches among medical students. There was determined the prevalence of primary cephalgias, namely, migraine without aura and episodic tension-type headaches. There was shown a lack of awareness of students about the causes of headache reflected in inadequate symptomatic treatment in most cases.