Prevalence of migraine and tension headaches and related factors, 2014

Background: Migraine and tension type headache (TTH) due to their effect on life and reducing efficacy are two major problems in human life. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of migraine and tension headaches and factors affecting their occurrence in Ardabil, Iran. Methods: In this cross sectional descriptive study, 900 cases were selected randomly from referral outpatients to neurology clinic of Ardabil, Iran during 2014. Diagnosis of headache type was confirmed by a neurologist and required information was obtained by general and neurological examinations of patients and recorded in a checklist and then analyzed by statistical methods in SPSS.19. Results: Of all referral cases, 767 (85.2%) have headache which from them 27.9% have migraine and 48.2% have TTH. Among migraine patients, 15.4% was male and 84.6% was female, and among TH patients 38.1% were male and 61.9% were female. Most location of headache in migraine and TH patients was frontal and temporal with 37.8% and 28.9%, respectively. Frequency of headache attacks in migraine patients was often weekly or monthly (74.3%) and in TH patients was often daily or weekly (85.7%). The prevalence of headache history among migraine patients was significantly more than TH patients (43.5% versus 34.1%). Conclusions: Results showed that the prevalence of migraine and TH was high in our society and most of headache attacks were weekly or daily. Because of headache causes to private and social dysfunctions, doing studies to determine risk factors in incidence of migraine and tension headaches for early detection of them is essenti