Headaches can affect more than half of the world’s population

A review study published Tuesday in the scientific journal (12) Journal of Headache and Pain An update of the well-respected Global Burden of Morbidity (GBD) study on headache. Based on 357 publications reviewed by the authors, it was possible to determine that 52% of the world’s population is affected by some type of headache each year, while 14% suffer from migraine, a chronic pain.

Because GBD results are based on epidemiological studies (published and unpublished) with a wide variety of methodologies and estimates, the research team focused on updating headache documentation, summarizing global prevalence estimates for all headache types. , tension-type headaches (TTH) and so-called 15-day headaches (H15).

In addition to comparing its updated data with GBD estimates, the study also analyzed how the methodological factors used affected the observed prevalence estimates.

Are headaches increasing in the world?

In 357 publications, mostly from high-income countries, published between 1961 and the end of 2020, the team of scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) found the estimated global prevalence of active headache to be 52%. There is also a predominance of migraine (14%), CTT (26%) and H15 (4.6%). The data was based on the latest in the series, the GBD2019 report.

According to the study’s lead author, Lars Jacob Stovner, professor at NTNU, although it is premature to conclude that headaches are increasing worldwide, what is clear from the current study is that their prevalence is high and they create a “heavy burden” for healthcare. The survey says that 15.8% of the world’s population suffers from headaches every day.

ARTICLE – Journal of Headache and Pain – DOI: 10.1186/s10194-022-01402-2.