Volume 197 - Issue 3
Headache sufferers need to be heard too
Author: Alessandro S Zagami
Med J Aust 2012; 197 (3): 146. || doi: 10.5694/mja12.10910
Published online: 6 August 2012
Published online: 6 August 2012
To the Editor: The 2 April issue of the Journal contained several articles on pain, but no mention of patients who suffer with head pain. Headache is one of the commonest acute and chronic pain conditions. Studies have shown that episodic migraine affects 18% of women and 8% of men.1 Daily headache afflicts 4% of people worldwide, and half have chronic migraine.2 According to data from ...
To the Editor: The 2 April issue of the Journal contained several articles on pain, but no mention of patients who suffer with head pain. Headache is one of the commonest acute and chronic pain conditions. Studies have shown that episodic migraine affects 18% of women and 8% of men.1 Daily headache afflicts 4% of people worldwide, and half have chronic migraine.2 According to data from the World Health Organization, migraine ranks eighth in the global burden of disability resulting from mental, neurological and substance-use disorders.3
Thus, headache and migraine are major problems. The Atlas of headache disorders and resources in the world 2011 states that “Headache disorders are ubiquitous, prevalent and disabling. Yet they are under-recognized, under-diagnosed and under-treated”.4 It identifies barriers to care and critical changes that are needed, including better education and availability of headache services.
The situation in Australia is no different. Based on the results of the 2011 Merck, Sharp and Dohme migraine survey commissioned by Headache Australia, 33% of people who have migraines experienced them every 2 weeks or more frequently; 42% experienced attacks lasting a full day, 81% are seeking better treatment, and 21.7 days were “lost to migraine” annually.5 In terms of the profile of headache in the pain management community, it is disappointing that migraine is barely mentioned in the 2010 National pain strategy.6
Recently, there has been a long overdue increase worldwide in experimental and clinical research into headache, and there have been major advances in the treatment of migraine. Thus at present, there is a huge unmet need, as well as potential new treatments that are, or soon will be, available to headache sufferers. It is time that their voice was heard too.
Competing interests
I receive financial support from the Australian Brain Foundation.
References
- Stovner LJ, Hagen K, Jensen R, et al. The global burden of headache: a documentation of headache prevalence and disability worldwide. Cephalalgia 2007; 27: 193-210. 0_CACGBFBE
- Vargas BB, Dodick DW. The face of chronic migraine: epidemiology, demographics, and treatment strategies. Neurol Clin 2009; 27: 467-479. 0_CACFIAGD
- Collins PY, Patel V, Joestl SS, et al. Grand challenges in global mental health. Nature 2011; 475: 27-30. 0_i1142876
- World Health Organization. Atlas of headache disorders and resources in the world 2011. http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/atlas_headache_disorders/en/index.html (accessed Jun 2012).
- StollzNow Research. Migraine 2011 report. http://headacheaustralia.org.au/images/stories/PDFs/MSD_Migraine_2011_Report.pdf (accessed May 2012).
- Painaustralia. National pain strategy: pain management for all Australians http://www.chronicpainaustralia.org.au/files/PainStrategy2010Final.pdf (accessed Jul 2012).