Authors: Russell, Michael; Levi, Niels; Šaltytė-Benth, Jūratė; Fenger, Kirsten

Source: European Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 21, Number 2, February 2006 , pp. 153-160(8)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the 1-year-period prevalence of tension-type headache in a large population based sample. The study population included 33,764 twins aged 12–41 years old from the population based new Danish Twin Registry. They received a posted headache questionnaire and the response rate was 83.5%. The self-reported 1-year-period prevalence of tension-type headache was 86.0%; 78.9% among men and 92.5% among women. The 1-year-period prevalence of infrequent episodic, frequent episodic and chronic tension-type headache was 63.5, 21.6 and 0.9%, respectively. Frequent episodic and chronic tension-type headache was significantly more frequent in women than men. The prevalence of frequent episodic tension-type headache increased slightly in men until age 39 then it declined, while it increased about 20% point in women from age 12 years to age 20–39 years old and then it declined. Congruently, the prevalence of chronic tension-type headache increased until age 39 and declined thereafter in both sexes. Chronic tension-type headache is rare in persons 12–14 years old. These effects were confirmed by age trends of the different subtypes of tension-type headache using a regression model. The prevalence of migraine varied from 7.0 to 16.8% in men and from 8.2 to 31.0% in women. It increased from age 12 to 34 years and then declined. The risk and frequency of tension-type headache was significantly higher in those with migraine than those who had never had migraine. Future large longitudinal follow-up studies are required.

Keywords: Age and gender; Epidemiology; Migraine; Prevalence; Tension-type headache

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10654-005-6031-3

Affiliations: 1: Email: m.b.russell@medisin.uio.no

Publication date: 2006-02-01

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