EPIDEMIOLOGIC AND CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MIGRAINE AND TENSION-TYPE HEADACHE IN KOREA

This is the first population-based epidemiologic study of chronic head ache in South Korea. The diagnosis end classification of headache was according to the criteria of the International Headache Society. Sixty -eight percent of the studied population experienced headache during t he preceding year. The estimated prevalences were 22.3% for migraine ( male 20.2%, female 24.3%) and 16.2% for tension-type headache (male 17 .8%, female 14.7%). In migraine, the 15- to Is-year age group showed m aximal prevalence in both sexes (male 28.5%, Female 34.7%). The preval ence of tension-type headache was highest in the 50- to 59-year age gr oup in men (24.2%) and in the 20- to 29-year age group in women (20.2% ). In migraine, headache intensity was more severe in women than in me n, bur in tension-type headache there was no difference in the severit y of headache between the sexes. Phonophobia was the most common assoc iated symptom of migraine (65.1%). in the migraine with aura group, th e most common aura was visual disturbance, including scintillation and image distortion (82.3%). only 24.4% of migraineurs and 12.3% of pati ents with tension-type headache had ever consulted a doctor for headac he. The prevalence of migraine was not lower than in western countries and much higher than in previous studies conducted in other Asian cou ntries.