Headaches

Headache - very common symptom in primary care practice with bulk of all headaches falling under two categories , migraine and tension type headache

One of the most common complaints faced in medicine and neurology

Most common disorder of the nervous system

Affects people of all races and socioeconomic status

Lifetime prevalence is 96 % with a female preponderance

WHO reports

almost half of the adult population would have sufferred atleast once in the last 1 year

half to three quarters of adults aged 18-65 had headache in the last year and among then , 30 % or more have reported migraine

headache on more than 15 days / month affects 1.7 % to 4 % of the world population

Prevalence peaks between ages of 25 -40 and decreases with age

Accounts for 1 in 10 GP consultation , 1 in 3 neurology referrals and 1 in 5 acute medical admissions

Significant societal cost as affects mostly people in their productive years.

International Classification of Headache Disorders - recognises over 200 headache disorders and divides them into three categories

Primary headaches -Migraine

Tension type headache (TTH)

Trigeminal autonomic cephalgia

these constitute the vast majority of short duration ie < 4...