title: Headache in men: forgotten in practice and ignored in research.
abstract: In general practice, the sex-specific consultation rate for headache is only slightly lower for men than it is for women. Headache is 2 to 3 times more common in women than it is in men, and women outnumber men in general practice by 2-fold. However, in headache practice they seem to outnumber men by 4- to 5-fold, suggesting a specific barrier to seeking specialty care. Although there is extensive literature specifically concerning headache in women, a PubMed search did not reveal any publications specifically addressing the problem in men, with the exception of cluster headache, a well-known headache condition that is more frequent in men. As a first attempt at filling this void, we analyzed the headache features, associated symptoms, and precipitating, aggravating, and relieving factors in 100 randomly selected men from a headache practice. Our results indicate that headache is a significant medical problem in men, and they seem to be underrepresented when it comes to seeking expert headache care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Julia E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
authors.forename: Egilius L H
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Spierings
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult