Cluster Headache and the Comprehension Paradox.

Patients with primary headache disorders such as cluster headache cycle between being entirely healthy and almost completely incapacitated. Sick leave or reduced performance due to headache attacks demands flexibility by their social counterparts. The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that headache patients cause frustration that grows with the times colleagues have to take over their work.

Dealing with Headache: Sex Differences in the Burden of Migraine- and Tension-Type Headache.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate sex differences in the burden of migraine and tension-type headache (TTH).

Background: Migraine and TTH are more common in women than in men, with differences in comorbidities, treatment responses, disease-modifying factors, and ictal and interictal burden of disease. Information about sex-related influences on ictal and interictal burden is limited, and an increased understanding is mandatory to provide tailored individual treatment for female and male patients.

[Smarter Medicine in Headache Care - presentation and discussion of 5 recommendations].

Smarter Medicine in Headache Care - presentation and discussion of 5 recommendations An unequivocal headache diagnosis cannot always be made. The lack of diagnostic tests able to prove primary headaches often prompts physicians to perform unnecessary examinations to reduce their uncertainty. When setting out the therapeutic strategy, again, insecurity often leads to mendable choices.

Interictal Burden of Cluster Headache: Results of the EUROLIGHT Cluster Headache Project, an Internet-Based, Cross-Sectional Study of People With Cluster Headache.

Objective: The aim of this study was to measure the interictal burden (IIB) associated with cluster headache (CH).

Background: CH is characterized by an alternation of excruciatingly painful attacks and pain-free periods. Absence of pain does not necessarily imply absence of symptoms, though.

Prevalence and burden of headache disorders in Lithuania and their public-health and policy implications: a population-based study within the Eurolight Project.

Background: The Eurolight project assessed the impact of headache disorders in ten EU countries, using the same structured questionnaire but varying sampling methods. In Lithuania, sample selection employed methods in line with consensus recommendations for population-based burden-of-headache studies.

Methods: The survey was cross-sectional.

Headache, depression and anxiety: associations in the Eurolight project.

Background: Headache disorders and psychiatric disorders are both common, while evidence, mostly pertaining to migraine, suggests they are comorbid more often than might be expected by chance. There are good reasons for establishing whether they are: symptoms of comorbid illnesses may summate synergistically; comorbidities hinder management, negatively influencing outcomes; high-level comorbidity indicates that, where one disease occurs, the other should be looked for. The Eurolight project gathered population-based data on these disorders from 6624 participants.

Interictal burden attributable to episodic headache: findings from the Eurolight project.

Background: Most primary headaches are episodic, and most estimates of the heavy disability burden attributed to headache derive from epidemiological data focused on the episodic subtypes of migraine and tension-type headache (TTH). These disorders give rise directly but intermittently to symptom burden. Nevertheless, people with these disorders may not be symptom-free between attacks.

Prevalence, management and burden of episodic and chronic headaches--a cross-sectional multicentre study in eight Austrian headache centres.

Background: Episodic and chronic headaches (EH, CH) are highly prevalent disorders. Severely affected patients are usually referred to headache centres. In Austria, at least one headache centre is available in seven of nine states, but detailed multicentre data are missing.

Headache yesterday in Europe.

Background: Surveys enquiring about burden of headache over a prior period of time (e.g., 3 months) are subject to recall bias.

The impact of headache in Europe: principal results of the Eurolight project.

Background: European data, at least from Western Europe, are relatively good on migraine prevalence but less sound for tension-type headache (TTH) and medication-overuse headache (MOH). Evidence on impact of headache disorders is very limited. Eurolight was a data-gathering exercise primarily to inform health policy in the European Union (EU).

Diagnosis, prevalence estimation and burden measurement in population surveys of headache: presenting the HARDSHIP questionnaire.

The global burden of headache is very large, but knowledge of it is far from complete and needs still to be gathered. Published population-based studies have used variable methodology, which has influenced findings and made comparisons difficult. The Global Campaign against Headache is undertaking initiatives to improve and standardize methods in use for cross-sectional studies.

Development and validation of the EUROLIGHT questionnaire to evaluate the burden of primary headache disorders in Europe.

We developed a 103-item self-reporting questionnaire to assess the burden of primary headache disorders on those affected by them, including headache characteristics, associated disability, co-morbidities, disease-management and quality of life. We validated the questionnaire in five languages with 426 participants (131 in UK, 60 in Italy, 107 in Spain, 83 in Germany/Austria, and 45 in France). After a linguistic and a face-content validation, we tested the questionnaire for comprehensibility, internal consistency and test-retest reliability at an interval of one month.

Headache-associated dizziness in a headache population: prevalence and impact.

Headache is an underestimated burden on general health and social functioning. Accompanying symptoms of headache episodes might influence this impact. In a survey in a headache population in Luxembourg on the social and emotional impact of headaches, accompanying symptoms of headache episodes were evaluated.

Prevalence of headache in Europe: a review for the Eurolight project.

The main aim of the present study was to do an update on studies on headache epidemiology as a preparation for the multinational European study on the prevalence and burden of headache and investigate the impact of different methodological issues on the results. The study was based on a previous study, and a systematic literature search was performed to identify the newest studies. More than 50% of adults indicate that they suffer from headache in general during the last year or less, but when asked specifically about tension-type headache, the prevalence was 60%.

Development of a self-reporting questionnaire, BURMIG, to evaluate the burden of migraine.

We developed a 77-item self-reporting questionnaire to assess the burden of migraine (BURMIG), including headache characteristics, migraine associated disability, comorbidities, management, and the consequences on the patients' lives. We translated BURMIG into four languages (French, Portuguese, German and English) and tested it in 130 headache patients (20 pain clinic, 17 primary care and 93 general public) in Luxembourg. We performed a linguistic and a face-content validation and tested the questionnaire for its comprehensiveness, internal consistency and for its retest-reliability at an interval of 1 month (completion rates were 79.

Impact of headache in Europe: a review for the Eurolight project.

A recent health economic survey in Europe has suggested that migraine is the costliest among the neurological disorders. According to many studies, migraine and other disorders lead to widespread suffering, reduction of quality of life, and marked impairment of participation, both in work and social activities. The present literature survey was made in order to summarize what is known on the subject, as a preparation for a EU-supported study to assess the impact in several EU countries with similar methodology and the same research instrument.