Migraine, chronic tension-type headache, and cluster headache in an Ethiopian rural community.
Fifteen-thousand-five-hundred adults (> or = 20 years) in a rural district in Ethiopia with a population of 250,000 were studied for chronic headache. Door-to-door survey was performed by trained lay health workers using a questionnaire with a high degree or reliability and validity. The 1-year prevalence of migraine headache was 3.0% (4.2% for females and 1.7% for males) with the peak age specific rate in the fourth decade. Migraine headache was about three times more common in females than in males at any decade. Two-thirds of migraine sufferers had rather frequent attacks. The most frequent trigger factors were emotional stress (90%), changes of weather (78%), physical exhaustion (75%), and smell (70%). Migraine with aura was rare. Family occurrence of migraine in first-degree relatives was 30%. The 1-year prevalence of chronic tension-type headache was 1.7%, while cluster headache was found to be extremely rare. Compared to similarly performed surveys, the prevalence of migraine among rural Ethiopians was less than among Nigerian Africans.
Tekle Haimanot
R
R
Faculty of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
Seraw
B
B
Forsgren
L
L
Ekbom
K
K
Ekstedt
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003027:Cluster Headache / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012423:Rural Health; D018781:Tension-Type Headache / Q000453:epidemiology*