Prevalence and Perceptions about Migraine among Students and Patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan

Abstract

Migraine is a common neurological disorder, prevalent in almost all over the world population and being considered as the 13 th major medical disorder among other major disorders across the globe, generally characterized with unilateral or bilateral headache, nausea and vomiting. In developing world, countries like Pakistan, most of the patients are not well aware of migraine headaches, as usually taken for simple headache due to no proper awareness. Usually it is not a contagious condition and most of the time it is recoded as episodic in nature. To assess the migraine, its frequency, symptoms, usual triggers and patients' perceptions, the present study was conducted. For this purpose a prospective study was carried out based on properly designed questionnaire. The data were collected from 7 educational institutes, including students of Islamia College Peshawar, University of Peshawar, Khyber Medical College, Engineering University Peshawar, Fatima Jinnah College Peshawar, Commerce College Peshawar and Agriculture University Peshawar. Part of data was also collected from patients visiting Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar for their headache problems. A total of 270 questionnaires were filled up. About 81 (30.00%) headache cases were recorded, fulfilling the International criteria of Headache. Out of 81 recorded cases, 31 (38.3%) patients were of migraine with aura and 50 (61.7%) were of migraine without aura condition. The prevalence of migraine in the study population was found to be 30.00%. The frequency of female migraine patients was higher i.e. 31 (34.1%) than the male sufferers 50 (27.9%). The present study clearly showed that the higher frequency (65.0%) of migraine exists in the age group of above 30 years age. The most prevalent trigger was found to be tension, which was in pa-* Corresponding author. M. Zahid et al. 509rallel followed by the lack of sleep or oversleeping. A family history for migraine was found in migraine patients. Usually the condition was found to limit the routine activities of patients. The present study recorded that most of the migraine patients (40.2%) did not visit doctors at hospital and preferably go for self-medication, which really needs a public awareness in order to properly cope this neurological disorder, which may pose future medical complications as well.

Prevalence of Migraine and Trigger Factors among Adult Rural Sudanese Population 2018

“…This is supported by literature that find out the most common types of aura are visual, vestibular vibration and sound [30,31]. Marital status was not found to be associated with migraine in this study, and that is not supported by a study in Pakistan, where the occurrence of migraine was significantly higher in unmarried persons [32]. It was found that, working status of population with migraine had no relationship with having migraine.…”

Effect of Migraine Headache on Productivity of Patients According to Migraine Disability Assessment Score: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…According to another study conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan, migraine frequency was higher in females than males, and it was more in the age group of above 30 years. Most of the migraine patients (40.2%) did not visit the hospital and preferred self-medication [14].…”

Migraine;

“…[27][28] M. Zahid showed a frequency of migraine as 65.0% and most of the cases >30 yrs old. 29 The variation in prevalence rates as estimated by different studies of is most likely due to differences in population samples, study methodology and classification.…”