Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of headache in university students

Abstract

Objective: Epidemiological studies regarding headache are abundant in developed countries; however, the data in developing countries are scarce. This study aims to detect the prevalence and clinical features of headache in Gaziosmanpasa University students in Tokat, Turkey.

Patients and methods: 2168 subjects were selected with randomized stratified sampling, and 92.5% of them participated in the study (2023 students). Two neurologists from our medical faculty interviewed and examined the students with headache. Assessment was done according to The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition.

Results: In our study, 22.64% of the students had tension-type headache (TTH), 17.89% had migraine headache, 0.29% TTH plus migraine headache, 0.20% had cluster and variants type of headache. Migraine type of headache was more common in females than in males (p=0.0001); however, no significant difference was present between males and females who had migraine with aura and tension-type headache.

Discussion: The clinical features of tension-type headache and migraine in our university students were similar to the ones of general population and to the studies conducted on university students.