title: Primary headache in yemen: prevalence and common medications used.
abstract: Background and Objective. Primary headaches is a major medical concern in certain Arabic countries, for example Oman, Jordan, and Qatar. This study was aimed at increasing understanding of the prevalence of headache in Arabic countries and identifying common medications used for treatment because of the lack of research done in this field in Yemen. Methods. This is a cross-sectional observational study conducted by recruiting case-series of adults and elderly who have primary headache within the age group from 18 to 85 years. 12640 subjects received a simple explanation for the aim of the study as ethical issue. The subjects were allowed to complete a self-conducted screening questionnaire. The data were diagnosed according to the International Headache Society's diagnostic criteria (2004). Results. The results showed that 76.5% of the primary headache is prevalent at least once per year, 27.1% of the tension type headache (TTH) was the maximum percentage of type of headache, and 14.48% of the migraine headache (MH) was the minimum percentage. On the other hand, the relationship between the primary headache and age of subjects was statistically significant (P < 0.05), while between primary headache and sex was not (P > 0.05). In addition, 70.15% of the subjects said that headache attacks affected their activity of daily livings (ADL). 62.26% of the subjects used the medications without medical advice regarding their headache. 37.73% of the subjects relied on medical professionals (physicians and pharmacist) regarding analgesics use. The most common agent used among the medications was paracetamol (38.4%). Others included ibuprofen, aspirin, diclofenac sodium, naproxen, mefenamic acid, ergotamine and (11.45%) were unknown agents. Conclusion. We concluded that absence of health attention from the Yemeni Community and education from the health system in the country regarding analgesics use and their potential risk led to abuse of such medications and could be a reason beyond high prevalence of headache in Yemen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Clinical Pharmacy, Hodeidah University, P.O. Box 3114, Hodeidah, Yemen ; Tihama Foundation for Drug Studies and Research, Hodeidah, Yemen.
authors.forename: Salah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Abdo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Clinical Pharmacy, Hodeidah University, P.O. Box 3114, Hodeidah, Yemen ; Tihama Foundation for Drug Studies and Research, Hodeidah, Yemen.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0791-8602
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amood Al-Kamarany
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan.
authors.forename: Karem H
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2808-5099
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Alzoubi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana'a University, P.O. Box 2289, Sana'a, Yemen.
authors.forename: Mohamed T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Al-Maktari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Clinical Pharmacy, Hodeidah University, P.O. Box 3114, Hodeidah, Yemen.
authors.forename: Abdulrhman H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Al-Baidani