Headache yesterday in Karnataka state, India: prevalence, impact and cost
File(s)
Author(s)
Steiner, TJ
Rao, GN
Kulkarni, GB
Gururaj, G
Stovner, LJ
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
The Global Campaign against Headache has pioneered evaluation of the prevalence and impact of headache on the preceding day (“headache yesterday”) as a new approach to the estimation of headache-attributed burden, avoiding recall error. We report its application in Karnataka State, southern India.
Methods
In a door-to-door survey, biologically unrelated adults (aged 18–65 years) were randomly sampled from urban and rural areas in and around Bengaluru and interviewed by trained researchers using a validated, structured questionnaire. Enquiry into headache applied ICHD-II diagnostic criteria and included questions about headache on the day preceding the interview (headache yesterday [HY]).
Results
There were 2329 participants (participation proportion 92.6 %; males 1141 [49.0 %], females 1188 [51.0 %]; mean age 38.0 [±12.7] years; 1103 [47.4 %] from rural areas, 1226 [52.6 %] urban). HY was reported by 138 participants (males 33 [2.9 %], females 105 [8.8 %]): the 1-day prevalence of headache was 5.9 %. Mean duration of HY was 7.0 ± 8.5 h, so that 1.7 % of the population (5.9 % * 7.0/24), on average, had headache at any moment in time yesterday. Mean intensity on a scale of 1–3 was 2.0 [±0.8]. Lost productivity due to HY was reported by 83.3 % of participants with HY: 37.7 % able to do less than half of what they had planned and 13.0 % able to do nothing. Productivity loss at population level (being the productivity loss within the entire adult population, every single day, attributable to headache) was 3.0 %.
Conclusions
This method of enquiry, free from recall error, confirmed a very high level of headache-attributed burden in Karnataka: previous estimates based on 3-month recall may even have been too low. Until another study is done in the country, these are the best data for all India. They demonstrate need for action nationwide to mitigate this burden, and correct action will ultimately almost certainly be cost-saving.
The Global Campaign against Headache has pioneered evaluation of the prevalence and impact of headache on the preceding day (“headache yesterday”) as a new approach to the estimation of headache-attributed burden, avoiding recall error. We report its application in Karnataka State, southern India.
Methods
In a door-to-door survey, biologically unrelated adults (aged 18–65 years) were randomly sampled from urban and rural areas in and around Bengaluru and interviewed by trained researchers using a validated, structured questionnaire. Enquiry into headache applied ICHD-II diagnostic criteria and included questions about headache on the day preceding the interview (headache yesterday [HY]).
Results
There were 2329 participants (participation proportion 92.6 %; males 1141 [49.0 %], females 1188 [51.0 %]; mean age 38.0 [±12.7] years; 1103 [47.4 %] from rural areas, 1226 [52.6 %] urban). HY was reported by 138 participants (males 33 [2.9 %], females 105 [8.8 %]): the 1-day prevalence of headache was 5.9 %. Mean duration of HY was 7.0 ± 8.5 h, so that 1.7 % of the population (5.9 % * 7.0/24), on average, had headache at any moment in time yesterday. Mean intensity on a scale of 1–3 was 2.0 [±0.8]. Lost productivity due to HY was reported by 83.3 % of participants with HY: 37.7 % able to do less than half of what they had planned and 13.0 % able to do nothing. Productivity loss at population level (being the productivity loss within the entire adult population, every single day, attributable to headache) was 3.0 %.
Conclusions
This method of enquiry, free from recall error, confirmed a very high level of headache-attributed burden in Karnataka: previous estimates based on 3-month recall may even have been too low. Until another study is done in the country, these are the best data for all India. They demonstrate need for action nationwide to mitigate this burden, and correct action will ultimately almost certainly be cost-saving.
Date Issued
2016-08-25
Date Acceptance
2016-08-17
Citation
Journal of Headache and Pain, 2016, 17
ISSN
1129-2377
Publisher
BioMed Central
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Headache and Pain
Volume
17
Copyright Statement
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
License URL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Clinical Neurology
Neurosciences
Neurosciences & Neurology
Headache yesterday
Migraine
Tension-type headache
Medication-overuse headache
Burden
Cost
Health policy
India
Global Campaign against Headache
TO-DOOR SURVEY
SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS
POPULATION SURVEYS
GLOBAL CAMPAIGN
BURDEN
DISORDERS
QUESTIONNAIRE
METHODOLOGY
DISABILITY
COUNTRIES
Neurology & Neurosurgery
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
74