Primary Headache in Yemen: Prevalence and Common Medications Used

Abstract

Background and Objective. Primary headaches is a major medical concern in certain Arabic countries, for example Oman, Jordan, and Qatar. This study was aimed at increasing understanding of the prevalence of headache in Arabic countries and identifying common medications used for treatment because of the lack of research done in this field in Yemen. Methods. This is a cross-sectional observational study conducted by recruiting case-series of adults and elderly who have primary headache within the age group from 18 to 85 years. 12640 subjects received a simple explanation for the aim of the study as ethical issue. The subjects were allowed to complete a self-conducted screening questionnaire. The data were diagnosed according to the International Headache Society's diagnostic criteria (2004). Results. The results showed that 76.5% of the primary headache is prevalent at least once per year, 27.1% of the tension type headache (TTH) was the maximum percentage of type of headache, and 14.48% of the migraine headache (MH) was the minimum percentage. On the other hand, the relationship between the primary headache and age of subjects was statistically significant (P < 0.05), while between primary headache and sex was not (P > 0.05). In addition, 70.15% of the subjects said that headache attacks affected their activity of daily livings (ADL). 62.26% of the subjects used the medications without medical advice regarding their headache. 37.73% of the subjects relied on medical professionals (physicians and pharmacist) regarding analgesics use. The most common agent used among the medications was paracetamol (38.4%). Others included ibuprofen, aspirin, diclofenac sodium, naproxen, mefenamic acid, ergotamine and (11.45%) were unknown agents. Conclusion. We concluded that absence of health attention from the Yemeni Community and education from the health system in the country regarding analgesics use and their potential risk led to abuse of such medications and could be a reason beyond high prevalence of headache in Yemen.

Prevalence of Primary Headache Disorders in Kuwait

“…Our results were similar to that reported in Arabic countries: 77% in Yemen [29] 72.5% in Qatar [11,] and 83.6% in Oman [12]. Additionally, similar results were recorded in non-Arabic countries: Korea (61.4%) [30] and (64%) in India [31].…”

“…Primary headache was more prevalent among females similar to the findings of previous regional and international studies [11,12,29,30,31,32,33,34]. …”

Migraine, tension-type headache, and depression among Saudi female students in Taif University

“…In the present work, 86.6% of migraineur students and 61.1% of students with TTH reported having a family history, a finding consistently found in previous studies and may highlight the role of genetics in this concern [5, 33, 34].…”

“…For the majority of both migraineurs and TTH students, paracetamol was the commonly used analgesic followed by ibuprofen and acetaminophen, a finding which is in agreement with those revealed from various studies [4–6]. The popularity of paracetamol and acetaminophen was explained in the previous studies by their low price, safety, and less GIT side effects, in addition to their availability as an over-the-counter medication [28, 34].…”

“…Seeking medical consultation for headache management was poor; only 11.9% of migraineur students and 12.4% of students with TTH reported seeking medical care. This very low figure was reported in previous studies done in Jordan [33] and Yemen [34]. Low level of headache consultation was also reported in other international studies, which showed that a small percentage of younger generation visit health professionals for their headache [35].…”