Prevalence of migraine in a rural area in South Tanzania: a door-to-door survey.
We set out to assess the prevalence during the previous year of migraine in a rural area surrounding the Mnero Diocesan Hospital in Southern-Tanzania. A door-to-door survey from August until December 1999 using a questionnaire based on the criteria of the International Headache Society (IHS), including 1047 households with 3351 persons, was done, consisting of a screening dialogue with a representative family member followed by a face-to-face interview with the affected subject. Of the 3351 participants (female 1876; male 1475; age > 10 years), 23.1% had suffered from headache during the past year; overall prevalence of migraine was 5.0% (female 7.0%; male 2.6%); 1.4% reported migraine without aura (female 1.8%; male 0.9%); and 3.6% reported migraine with aura (female 5.2%, male 1.6%). The peak prevalence was found in female persons in the fourth (11.1%), in male persons in the third decade of life (3.8%). Compared with other African surveys, the prevalence rate of migraine headache in South Tanzania is slightly higher than among Ethiopian and Zimbabwean Africans.
Department of Neurology, University Hospital Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria. wolfgang.dent@macnews.de
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology