Prevalence and clinical characteristics of headache in medical students inOman

Objectives.-To perform a descriptive epidemiological study of headache in m edical students at Sultan Qaboos University, analyzing prevalence, symptom profile, and pattern of health care utilization. Background.-Headache is one of the most common complaints in medical practi ce. To our knowledge, headache has not been the subject of investigation in medical students in the Arabian Gulf. Methods.-Lifetime and last-year prevalence of headache was based on a detai led structured headache assessment questionnaire. Besides demographic data, headache characteristics and pattern of health care utilization were evalu ated. In addition, questions were included referring to the use of traditio nal remedies. Interviewers included three previously trained final-year med ical students. The evaluation was done per cohort, and the students were gu ided through the assessment questionnaire by the interviewers. Migraine and tension-type headache were diagnosed according to the criteria of the Inte rnational Headache Society. Results.-Four hundred three students (95.3%) completed the questionnaire: 1 51 men (37.5%) and 252 women (62.5%). The lifetime and last-year prevalence of headache was 98.3% and 96.8%, respectively. A positive family history o f headache was found in 57.6% of students. The prevalence rate of migraine and tension-type headache was found to be the same (12.2%), with a differen ce in distribution across sexes: 6.6% of the men and 15.5% of the women had migraine, while 13.9% of the men and 11.1% of the women suffered from tens ion-type headache. Only 23.3% of students sought medical assistance during headache episodes, and 80.3% took medication: 24.6% took prescribed medicat ion, 72.9% took nonprescription medication, and only 2.5% took traditional remedies. Acetaminophen (83.1%) followed by mefenamic acid (24.6%) were the most commonly used drugs. Conclusions.-The results of this prospective epidemiological study show tha t headache is highly prevalent among medical students at this university. T he high prevalence rate of migraine sufferers in this student population mi ght be due to the high female-to-male ratio (1.7:1). It is likely that anal gesic use/overuse also coexists with headache in medical students at Sultan Qaboos University, since a large majority of them rely on nonprescription medications.