Abstract
Objective: To explore prevalence of headache disorders and its psychological associations in Pakistan.
Study design: It is a retrospective study.
Place and duration of study: The study was conducted in The Neurocounsel, Islamabad between the year 2017 and 2023.
Material and Methods: 514 participants, who sought treatment at a private clinic in Islamabad from all over Pakistan, participated in this retrospective research. Hit-6 and MIDAS were used for headache severity and extent of disability, HAM-A and HAM-D were applied for anxiety and depression respectively. Athen’s sleep questionnaire was administered for insomnia. After these assessments, the frequencies and descriptives were calculated.
Results: Primary headache was reported by 63.7% of the patients, with migraine being the most common (31.9%), followed by chronic daily headache (23.2%). Secondary headache was identified in only 3.1% of the sample. 33.3% people did not meet any criteria so were categorized as Not Otherwise Specified (NOS). Women constituted about 2/3rd of patients in almost all of the headache types.
Conclusion: Primary headache is more common, and within it, migraine is the predominant type. Anxiety, depression and insomnia were also comorbid among the sample, proving that headache is not only a physiological problem but psychological issues also co-occur with it.
Keywords: Headache, Migraine, Chronic daily headache, Secondary headache
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