IT’S more than an excuse to turn down a romp — women really are plagued by headaches. Twice as many women as men suffer migraines, research shows. And they are also twice as likely to have a headache on 15 days a month. Overall, headaches were found to be worryingly common, with more than half […]
IT’S more than an excuse to turn down a romp — women really are plagued by headaches.
Twice as many women as men suffer migraines, research shows.
And they are also twice as likely to have a headache on 15 days a month.
Overall, headaches were found to be worryingly common, with more than half the world’s population thought to be affected.
More than one in seven people were said to be affected on any given day.
The figures are from Norwegian researchers who analysed data from 350 previous studies.
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Professor Lars Jacob Stovner said: “The prevalence of headache disorders remains high worldwide and the burden of different types may impact many.
“We should endeavour to reduce this burden through prevention and better treatment.
“To measure the effect of such efforts, we must be able to monitor prevalence and burden in societies. Our study helps us understand how to improve our methods.”
The team acknowledged that the majority of publications they reviewed came from high-income countries with good healthcare systems, so the findings may not reflect every country.
Prof. Stovner added: “Compared to our previous report and global estimates, the data does suggest that headaches and migraines rates may be increasing.
“However, given that we could explain only 30 per cent or less of the variation in headache estimates with the measures we looked at, it would be premature to conclude headaches are definitively increasing.
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“What is clear is that overall, headache disorders are highly prevalent worldwide and can be a high burden.
“It may also be of interest in future to analyse the different causes of headaches that varied across groups to target prevention and treatment more effectively.”
