A machine generated summary based on the work of Jeyagurunathan, Anitha; Abdin, Edimansyah; Vaingankar, Janhavi Ajit; Chua, Boon Yiang; Shafie, Saleha; Chang, Shi Hui Sherilyn; James, Lyn; Tan, Kelvin Bryan; Basu, Sutapa; Chong, Siow Ann; Subramaniam, Mythily. 2019  in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

Prevalence of migraine in Upper Egypt

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41983- 019- 0067- x

Abstract-Summary This study aims to estimate the prevalence of migraine headache among the popula- tion of Al-Quseir city (Upper Egypt) and its impact on the patients’ life.

This study is part of a door-to-door survey of major neurological disorders in

Al-Quseir city, Red Sea Governorate.

Respondents were identified as suffering from migraine with aura, migraine without aura, and probable migraine as defined by the diagnostic criteria of the International Headache Society (IHS).

Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS) questionnaire was used to

assess the impact of the disease on the patients’ daily life. We identified 911 patients suffering from migraine. Among migraine patients, most of the attacks recorded were of moderate to severe intensity (97%) although virtually 66% of migraine patients reported that headache significantly interfered with their daily activities.

Migraine headache has a deleterious impact on the patient’s functional and

wellbeing.

1.1

Epidemiology

25

Extended: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of migraine headache among the population of Al-Quseir city, Red Sea Governorate, Upper Egypt, and to determine migraine-related disability and treatment gap.

This study is part of a door-to-door survey of major neurological disorders that was conducted in Al-Quseir city (Red Sea Governerate) over a period of about 2 ½ years (July 1, 2009, to January 31, 2012).

Introduction Migraine is most prevalent during the peak productive years and has a negative influence on the quality of life.

Despite high levels of temporal disability, many migraineurs have never con- sulted a physician for the problem, which in turn has introduced selection bias in migraine studies based on patients who seek treatment rather than persons from the general population [72].

Although numerous studies of migraine prevalence have been published, reviews of the epidemiological literature have shown a large variation in the prevalence rates (ranging from 1.

This study aims to estimate the prevalence of migraine headache among the pop- ulation of Al-Quseir city, Red Sea Governorate, Upper Egypt, and to determine migraine-related disability and treatment gap.

Population and Methods This study is part of a door-to-door survey of major neurological disorders that was conducted in Al-Quseir city (Red Sea Governerate) over a period of about 2 ½ years (July 1, 2009, to January 31, 2012).

This project was carried out on eligible inhabitants who had been living in

Al-Quseir city, for at least 6 months at the time of the study.

This study was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of Assiut University

and Ministry of Health (Red Sea Area Health Service) prior to commencement.

The study area, Al-Quseir city, is a representative city of those lying on Red Sea. Al-Quseir city is the second city in the Red Sea Governorate as regards the num-

ber of population [73].

The intensity of attacks was recorded using three grades (mild, moderate, and severe) according to the International Classification of Headache Society 2004 [74].

Results From the total number of 33,285 persons, those were screened through door to door, we identified 911 patients suffering from migraine (650 females and 261 males).

Regarding prophylactic treatment in between attacks, it was found that the treat- ment gap among migraineurs was 91.5%, i.e., most detected migraineurs (91.5%) were receiving no prophylactic treatment.

Discussion Although, a door-to-door approach in estimating the prevalence of migraine is dif- ficult and time consuming, it is more accurate than hospital-based studies as the majority of patients do not seek medical advice for self-limited paroxysmal disor- ders [75, 76].

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1 Public Health

Migraine prevalence in the current study is near the global data of WHO esti- mates which mentioned that migraine appears somewhat less prevalent, but still common, in Asia (3% of men and 10% of women) and in Africa (3–7% in community- based studies) [77].

These results are partially consistent with most studies on migraine prevalence, which have reported variation among different age groups, with prevalence figures following an inverted U-shaped distribution, increasing from age 15 to 18, peaking during the third and early fourth decades of life and declining thereafter [78, 79].

This heavy burden of migraine disability, besides the very wide treatment gap, might throw some light on this major health problem and necessitates more public awareness and the need for prophylactic treatment.

Conclusion The lifetime prevalence of migraine in Al-Quseir was 3.38/100 with male preva- lence of 1.95/100 and female prevalence of 4.8/100.

The highest prevalence figures were found during early adult life (18–40 years) among both genders reaching a total prevalence of 4.77/100 (2.89/100 for male and 6.53/100 for female).

Acknowledgement A machine generated summary based on the work of El-Tallawy, Hamdy N.; Farghaly, Wafaa M.; Abdelhamed, Mohamed A.; Badry, Reda; Rageh, Tarek A.; Soliman, Wael T.; Abdulghani, Khaled O.; Hassan, Mahmoud; Sobhy, Sayed; Shehata, Ghaydaa A. 2019 in The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery.

Migraine prevalence, clinical characteristics, and health care- seeking practice in a sample of medical students in Egypt