ArticleNeurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology2024
Primary headaches prevalence, characteristics, and healthcare utilization in Italian medical students.
Article in Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Migraine Among University Students: Prevalence, Characteristics, and Sociodemographic Influences.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The burden of headache disorders among medical students in Vietnam: estimates from a cross-sectional study with a health-care needs assessment.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Article
- The prevalence of headache disorders among medical students in Vietnam: a cross-sectional study.The journal of headache and pain · 2024Article
- Migraine Prevalence and Academic Impact on Medical Students at Alfaisal University.Brain and behavior · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAmong university students, migraine is notably prevalent and is linked to compromised academic performance and daily functioning. Medical students are a particularly vulnerable category due to the demanding nature of their training, as they are often exposed to headache trigger factors. We therefore aimed to determine the prevalence, characteristics, and healthcare-seeking practices of primary headaches among Italian medical students.
methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study among medical students attending the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome who completed a self-administered questionnaire designed following the International Classification of Headache Disorders-3 criteria. The questionnaire assessed sociodemographic and headache features, healthcare utilization, the use of symptomatic and preventive treatment, and headache trigger factors.
resultsFive hundred thirty-six students filled out the questionnaire. The lifetime and last-year prevalence of headache in this cohort was 76.7% (n = 411). Among the students surveyed, migraine had a prevalence of 26.9%, probable migraine of 12.9%, and tension-type headache (TTH)/probable TTH of 36.9%. Two hundred and forty-six students (59.8%) reported that their headache worsened after starting university. All students reporting headache had at least one trigger factor. In students fulfilling the criteria for migraine (n = 144), 137 (95.1%) had previously used acute non-prescription treatments, and eight concurrently used a preventive treatment. Thirty-five students fulfilling the criteria for migraine underwent a brain MRI scan (24.3%), 43 performed a neurological evaluation (29.9%), 36 received a diagnosis of migraine (25%), and 20 (13.9%) accessed the emergency room. DISCUSSION: Migraine and TTH are common among medical students in Italy despite low healthcare resource utilization. These results support the need to promote public health policies and strategies in order to reduce the disability and burden associated with primary headaches among medical students.
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