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Headache in a Nonclinical Population in Dares Salaam, Tanzania. A Community‐Based Study
Author(s) -
Matuja W.B.P.,
Mteza I.B.H.,
Rwiza H.T.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
headache: the journal of head and face pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.14
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1526-4610
pISSN - 0017-8748
DOI - 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1995.hed3505273.x
Subject(s) - medicine , headaches , tanzania , migraine , population , pediatrics , disease , demography , environmental health , psychiatry , environmental science , environmental planning , sociology
Headache is a common symptom that constitutes a major health problem to all countries in the world with a variable prevalence from about 20.2% in the African population to about 80% in populations of the civilized world. Community‐based studies in African populations are still scanty, and the impact on health facility utilization and sickness absence from work is unknown. After a simple random selection, 1540 urban workers and students of higher education completed a standardized self‐administered questionnaire on headache. A total of 815 (52%), (620 (51%) men, 195 (60%) women) admitted to having suffered a headache requiring medication or medical consultation in the last year. Of these, 366 (23.7%) had recurrent headache not attributable to systemic disease. Of the total with recurrent headache, there was a significant preponderance of women over men with sex prevalence of 28.9% and 22.4%, respectively (X 2 P = 0.0001). Combined vascular‐muscular‐type of headache exceeded all types of headache, accounting for 35.8% of cases, followed by migraine accounting for 30.8% of cases. Organic disease was rare, accounting for 8.5% of cases, and psychogenic causes of headache were even rarer at less than 1.2% of cases.Within 2 months of onset of recurrent headaches, over 32% of sufferers had utilized the health facility at their place of work or study. A significant number of cases (175) had an average of 11.3 lost work days per year in comparison to a control group of 154 persons with an average of 5.7 lost work days per year for reasons other than headache (X 2 P = 0.0005). In summary, headache is probably rare in the African population as previously reported. However, the clinical manifestation of headache is similar to those observed in the civilized world. Whenever services are available, patients with headache will seek medical consultation. A significant number of days are lost from work due to severe headache in an urban population in Tanzania. This study underscores the need for early correct diagnosis and treatment of headache to reduce the number of work absences due to headache.