Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May;12(5):e2588.
doi: 10.1002/brb3.2588. Epub 2022 Apr 21.

Prevalence of migraine headaches and their impact on the academic performance of Sudanese medical students using ID-Migraine test as a screening tool: A cross-sectional study

Moaid Mohamed Osman Ali  1 , Khabab Abbasher Hussien Mohamed Ahmed  1 , Mohammed Eltahier Abdalla Omer  2
Affiliations

Prevalence of migraine headaches and their impact on the academic performance of Sudanese medical students using ID-Migraine test as a screening tool: A cross-sectional study

Moaid Mohamed Osman Ali et al. Brain Behav. 2022 May.

Abstract

Background: Migraine-and episodic headache-is one of the most common types of primary headache. Migraine is considered a serious health problem that affects the quality of life. During university life, students often report increased levels of stress, depression, anxiety, and irregular sleep, all of which are associated with migraines. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of migraine headaches among medical campus students at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. Based on available data, migraine is on the rise in both general populations as well as in university students.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. The study population was composed of students registered to the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy at Khartoum University in the academic years of 2020-2021. Out of these, 318 of them accepted to participate. Participants who had two or more headaches in the last 3 months formed the headache group. Afterwards, two preliminary questions were applied to the headache group and participants with at least one affirmative response were asked to perform the validated ID-Migraine™ test.

Results: The mean age of 318 students participating in the study was 19.23 ± 1.84 (17-39 years), with adolescents:adult ratio being 2.5:1. A total of 1613 students (43.7%) had at least two headaches in the last 3 months. Migraine-type headache was detected in 266 subjects (7.2%) based on the ID-Migraine™ test. Of the migraine group, 72 were male (27.1%) and 194 were female (72.9%). There was no significant difference in migraine prevalence between adolescent and adult age groups.

Conclusions: With prevalence similar to adults, primary care physicians should be aware of the probability of migraine headaches in university students in order to maintain a successful school performance.

Keywords: Sudan; academic performance; headache; migraine; students.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Al‐Hashel, J. Y. , Ahmed, S. F. , Alroughani, R. , & Goadsby, P. J. (2014). Migraine among medical students in Kuwait University. Journal of Headache and Pain, 15(1), 26. 10.1186/1129-2377-15-26 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Basdav, J. , Haffejee, F. , & Puckree, T. (2016). Impact of headaches on university students in Durban, South Africa. Springerplus, 5(1), 1679. 10.1186/s40064-016-3372-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Deleu, D. , Khan, M. , Humaidan, H. , Al Mantheri, Z. , & Al Hashami, S. (2021). Prevalence and clinical characteristics of headache in medical students in Oman. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 42(10), 963–973. - PubMed
    1. El‐Metwally, A. , Toivola, P. , AlAhmary, K. , Bahkali, S. , AlKhathaami, A. , Al Ammar, S. , Altamimi, I. , Alosaimi, S. , Jawed, M. , & Almustanyir, S. (2021). The epidemiology of migraine headache in Arab countries: A systematic review. Scientific World Journal, 2020, 4790254. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Genizi, J. , Gordon, S. , Kerem, N. C. , Srugo, I. , Shahar, E. , & Ravid, S. (2013). Primary headaches, attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities in children and adolescents. Journal of Headache and Pain, 14(1), 54. 10.1186/1129-2377-14-54 - DOI - PMC - PubMed