The Nation : Headaches Called Public Health Menace

The common headache and the migraine are a greater public health menace than many believe and afflict women more often than men, a new study concludes. Headaches are the seventh-most-common complaint involving outpatient care, and the National Headache Foundation, an information clearinghouse, estimates that direct and indirect costs to society--for medical care and lost workdays--are $6 billion to $10 billion annually. Walter Stewart, one of five authors of the study published in today’s Journal of the American Medical Assn., said researchers found that most people suffered 10 to 12 headaches a year. About 10% of all headaches are migraines, distinguished from the common or “tension” headache by more severe pain, nausea, longer duration and a more acute reaction to sensory stimuli such as light. Women missed, on average, 1.8 days of work or school each year because of disabling headaches, compared with 1.2 days for men.