Disability, physician consultation, and use of prescription medications in a population-based study of headache

In a population-based telephone interview survey of 9 380 residents aged 12 to 29 yr in Washington County, Maryland, who reported having had a headache, 60% of females and 41% of males had had one or more headaches during the previous week; 14.4% of females and 6.0% of males in the study group had consulted a physician in the previous 12 months for a headache problem. The likelihood of consulting a physician differed according to the type of headache. Subjects with headache during the week before the interview meeting the criteria for certain migraine or certain mixed tension-migraine were twice as likely as subjects with all other types of headaches to consult a physician during the previous 12 months. Females with tension headache were considerably more likely than males with the tension headache to have consulted a physician during the previous 12 months. On the other hand, males with migraine headache during the previous week were more likely than females with migraine to consult a physician. Disability (defined as being absent from school or from work for all or pan of the day) was relatively common among those subjects with a headache during the previous week (13.7% of females and 7.9% of males). However, even among those reporting disability as a result of their headache during the previous week, only 31% of females and 18% of males reported consulting a physician during the previous 12 months. The percentage of those with headache-related disability who had sought care for a full day increased with age among both females and males. Use of prescription medication during the previous 12 months was respectively three times higher for headache prevention and almost twice as high for the treatment of headache pain in females than in males. headache/pain/treatment.