An Epidemiological Study of Headache In an Urban and a Rural Population In Northern Finland

• Published in: Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain
• Main Authors: Nikiforow, Rita, Hokkanen, E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1978
• Subjects: Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4610.1978.hed1803137.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1526-4610.1978.hed1803137.x; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/j.1526-4610.1978.hed1803137.x/fullpdf

SYNOPSIS Information on the prevalence of headache and its characteristic features and the factor provoking it was collected using a questionnaire similar to that introduced by Waters. The questionnaire was posted to every inhabitant over 15 years of age in a defined urban and a defined rural area in northern Finland. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested by neurological examination of a random sample of 200 persons. The response rate was 74.0% in the urban and 79.5% in the rural area, a total of 3067 questionnaires being returned. The prevalence of headache in the year preceeding the survey was 73.1% in women and 57.6% in men. This difference was significant. At the same time the prevalence was slightly higher in the urban than in the rural area. The percentage with headache was highest between 15 and 64 years of age in both the urban and the rural men and women, and declined sharply after 65 years of age. Only in men aged 15‐24 years was it significantly more common in the urban area. Education, social class and mode of employment did not influence the prevalence of headache once pensioners were excluded. Headache was slightly more common in urban self‐employed people and in urban employees, but equally common in urban and rural students, housewives and pensioners. It was significantly more common in married men and women. The percentage of women with headaches related to the menstrual period was low. The most common provoking factor was stress, the sauna‐bath ranking second. No correlation was found between smoking habits and headache in this survey.