title: Incidence of migraine and tension-type headache in three different populations at risk within the German DMKG headache study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Unlike the prevalence, the incidence of headache disorders has attracted only little attention in epidemiological research. Different definitions of the 'population at risk' among the few published migraine and tension-type headache incidence studies limit their comparability and warrant further research. Therefore, we analysed data from the German Migraine and Headache Society (DMKG).
  
  
  METHODS
  Incidences were assessed in the general population in Germany via standardized headache questions using the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd Edition (ICHD-2). The population was drawn from a 5-year age-group- stratified and gender-stratified random sample from the population register.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1312 baseline participants examined between 2003 and 2004, 1122 (85.5%) participated in the follow-up in 2006 and were the basis for three different populations at risk. We found that the three populations differed in size, age, gender and incidence estimate. The total sample incidence of migraine ranged between 0% and 3.3% and of tension-type headache between 5.3% and 9.2% depending on the definition of 'at risk'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded that one significant problem in headache incidence estimation is the definition of 'at risk', limiting comparability. Thus, this study supports the need for a common definition for prospective headache incidence estimations.
authors: Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster, Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Münster, Germany. khil@uni-muenster.de
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Khil
authors: Volker
authors: V
authors: Pfaffenrath
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Straube
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Evers
authors: Klaus
authors: K
authors: Berger
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012306:Risk; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018781:Tension-Type Headache / Q000453:epidemiology*