title: Familial occurrence of chronic tension-type headache.
abstract: Chronic tension-type headache (CTTH) assessed by proband report was evaluated in a family study of CTTH. A clinical interview of first-degree relatives by a physician was used as index of validity. Familial occurrence of CTTH in first-degree relatives was also investigated. Patterns of familial aggregation of CTTH were assessed by calculating the population relative risk. A neurological resident carried out all the interviews of probands and their first-degree relatives. The operational diagnostic criteria of the International Headache Society were used. The 122 probands had 377 first-degree relatives. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and chance-corrected agreement rate for the diagnosis CTTH were 68%, 86%, 53% (PVpos), 92% (PVneg), and 0.48, respectively. The low sensitivity of CTTH assessed by proband report indicates that a clinical interview by a physician is necessary in family studies of CTTH. Clinically interviewed parents, siblings, and children had a 2.1 to 3.9-fold significantly increased risk of CTTH compared with the general population. The gender of the probands did not influence the risk of CTTH among first-degree relatives. The significantly increased familial risk of CTTH and no increased risk of CTTH in spouses suggest that a genetic factor is involved in CTTH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Glostrup Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. mbr@dadlnet.dk
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ostergaard
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bendtsen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olesen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018781:Tension-Type Headache / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics