The Vaga study; epidemiology of headache I: The prevalence of ultrashort paroxysms

In a large-scale study of headache epidemiology in Vaga, Norway, 1838 adult parishioners(18-65 years of age) were examined, and this represents 88.6% of the target group. Jabs and jolts syndrome/idiopathic stabbing headache ( ISH) was verified in 35.2% of the questioned parishioners. This prevalence is much higher than previously observed ones. There were clearly more femal es than males, the female/male ratio being 1.49, as compared to a ratio of 1.06 in the study cohort (P-value: <0.0001, <chi>(2) test). The ratio, 1.49 , also differs clearly from a previously observed one: 6.6 (P-value = 0.000 3, Fisher's exact test). Control studies included blinded re-check of 100 w ork-ups, with complete concurrence (kappa-value of 1.00 and blinded re-chec k of 41 individuals (kapp value of 0.841). Jabs and jolts/ISH are frequent and almost the sole shortlasting (generally <3 s duration) cephalic paroxys ms.