Harinii srri P N¹,
Valarmathi A²,
¹Postgraduate,
²Professor,
Department of Physiology,
Government Cuddalore Medical College,
Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India.

Abstract

• Background: The prevalence of chronic and frequent headache in general population is around 4% worldwide. Physical disorders, which are characterized by recurrent headache, are associated with personal and societal burdens of pain, disability, decreased quality of life, and financial burden. This vulnerable group of patients are often overlooked among the wide range of patients attending the outpatient department. Identifying and analysing patients with headache is difficult but essential in studying the wide spectrum of this disease. This study aims to highlight the factors responsible for headache which may be a symptom that reveals a serious underlying disorder.
• Aim: To assess the clinical profile of headache in patients attending a tertiary care center.
• Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in the Medicine Outpatient Department of Government medical college after obtaining institutional ethical committee clearance, involving 100 patients of both gender attending the headache clinic of Department of general medicine (OP& IP), of Government Medical college and Hospital.A detailed history and physical examination including that of central nervous system, ophthalmic and ENT examination was done for all patients. The data was recorded and analysed.
• Results: The distribution of patients in different age groups were <20 years is 7%, 31 to 40 years is 17%, 41-50 years is 14%, 51-60 years is 10% and >60 years is 10% .In the present study, among the primary headache types, the prevalence of migraine headache was 41.6% and that of tension type headache was 58.4%. The common triggering factors for migraine with/without aura were fasting, stress, menstruation, inadequate sleep, and hunger. Occurrence of migraine may be influenced by menstruation, pregnancy, and hormonal therapies in females. Nausea, vomiting, photo-phonophobia, and neck pain were the most common accompanying symptoms in headache patients in our study. Most of the study participants had a history of addiction to pan (betel).
• Conclusion: The study showed higher rates of headache in females than male patients and primary headache being more common than secondary headache. Severity of symptoms in primary headaches, especially migraine, can be prevented by proper prophylaxis.

Keywords: clinical profile, headache, migraine