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Recurrent Morning Headaches: Prevalence and Risk Factors

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A recent study has shown that 1 in 13 individuals in the general population are affected by recurrent morning headaches, with the majority of cases being related to an identifiable organic, mental, or sleep disorder. Interestingly, it shows that it is misleading to relate morning headaches specifically to sleep-related breathing disorder.

People who are waking up with a headache may be suffering from a major depressive disorder or an insomnia disorder, a new study has shown.The study, which is the first to explore the associated risk factors of morning headaches in the general population using a large sample (N=18980), was published in last week’s issue of the journal, Archives of Internal Medicine.In the study, a telephone questionnaire was used to interview 18980 subjects, aged 15 years or older and representative of five European countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Portugal,and Spain. The subjects were asked the following question: “Do you have headaches when you wake up in the morning?” They were then asked to chose from one of the following responses: “always,” “often,” “sometimes,” “rarely,” “never,” or “does not know.” Subjects who answered with “always,” “often,” or “sometimes” were considered to have morning headaches.Morning headaches were then analyzed in relationship to five categories of factors: sociodemographic determinants, use of psychoactive substances, organic disorders, and sleep and mental disorders in accordance with the DSM-IV. The results of the study showed a prevalence of 7.6% of subjects who said that they woke up at least sometimes with headaches, with the median duration in which these morning headaches occurred being 42 months. The rates of recurrent morning headache were found to be higher in women than in men (8.4% vs 6.7%) and in subjects aged between 45 and 64years (~9%).A number of disorders were found to have a positive association with recurrent morning headaches and the most significant of these were comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders (28.5% vs 5.5%), major depressive disorder alone (21.3% vs 5.5%), dyssomnia not otherwise specified (17.1% vs 6.9%), insomnia disorder (14.4% vs 6.9%), and circadian rhythm disorder (20.0% vs 7.5%). Other conditions that showed a significant association were sleep-related breathing disorder, hypertension, musculoskeletal diseases, use of anxiolytic medication and heavy alcohol consumption.This study reveals the multiplicity of risk factors that can be involved in the complaint of morning headaches. Contrary to what was previously suggested, recurrent morning headaches are not specific to sleep-related breathing disorder, rather they should be considered as a good indicator of major depressive disorders and insomnia disorders. (Source: Archives of Internal Medicine/Volume 164: pages 97-102, January 12, 2004)


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Dates

Posted On: 20 January, 2004
Modified On: 5 December, 2013


Created by: myVMC