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An Online Survey of Exercise‐Related Headaches Among Cyclists
Author(s) -
van der EndeKastelijn Karin,
Oerlemans Willem,
Goedegebuure Simon
Publication year - 2012
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.1526-4610.2012.02263.x
Subject(s) - headaches , medicine , population , physical therapy , demography , psychiatry , environmental health , sociology
Background.— Primary exertional headache (PEH) is a long‐known phenomenon. Divergent prevalences of between 0.2 and 12.3% are reported among the general population. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence among an athletic population. Method.— A link to an online questionnaire was sent to all participants of a tough cycling event held in The Netherlands. Results.— Four thousand participants filled out the questionnaire. One thousand eight hundred and ten (45%) stated that they had suffered, at least once in their lives, from exercise‐related headaches (EHs). Thirty‐seven percent (668) of them had those headaches at least once a month and 10% (174) experienced a weekly occurrence. The rate of female cyclists with a history of EHs was 54%. With an increasing age, a decline of EHs was found. Five hundred eighty‐one (37%) of the participants used medication for EHs. Conclusions.— An estimation of the prevalence of PEHs among the studied population by comparison to the International Headache Society criteria resulted in a rate of 26%. The lower prevalence among older cyclists could be caused by avoidance of (high‐intensity) exercise due to the burden that EH brings along. PEH appears to be quite common among an athletic population and merits further investigation.