title: Headache yesterday in China: a new approach to estimating the burden of headache, applied in a general-population survey in China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In order to minimize recall bias in burden estimation, questions about headache yesterday were included in a population-based survey initiated by LIFTING THE BURDEN : The Global Campaign against Headache.
  
  
  METHODS
  Throughout China, nonrelated respondents aged 18-65 years were randomly sampled from the general population by a door-to-door survey. A validated structured questionnaire included inquiry into occurrence and burden of headache on the preceding day ("headache yesterday").
  
  
  RESULTS
  The participation rate was 94.1%. Of 5041 participants, 286 (5.7%) (male 3.6%, female 7.9%) reported headache yesterday. Age-weighted prevalence of headache yesterday was 4.8% (male 3.0%, female 6.6%). Headache yesterday lasted all day in 36.8%, <1 hour in 14.3% and for a mean of 3.7 ± 3.3 hours in 48.9%. Headache yesterday was moderate to severe in 79.9%; disability such that they could do less than half of what they had expected was reported by 19.9% and such that they could do nothing by a further 7.5% (total 27.4%). Almost three-quarters (71.5%) with headache yesterday took medication to treat it.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Of the adult Chinese population, 1.8% have headache at any one time that is of moderate to severe intensity in 1.4%, and 1.3% lose the equivalent of a whole day to headache-attributed disability every day. In China this means 12.3 million people.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, PR China.
authors.forename: Shengyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Mianwang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Ruozhuo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiachun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Xiangyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Xiaosu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xiutang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yannan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Steiner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: China; Global Campaign against Headache; burden of illness; disability; headache yesterday