Prevalence of primary headache disorders among information technology staff in China: the negative effects of computer use and other correlative factors

BACKGROUND: To date, there have been very few studies that have explored the relationship between headaches and computer use. The chief aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of primary headache disorders among informational technology staff and identify the potential factors contributing to it. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study based on annual health checks of employees from the information technology industry. We identified 2216 information technology staff members from Beijing by stratified random sampling who met the inclusion criteria. All participants were initially required to have a physical examination, after which they complete a general situation questionnaire that included a headache screening question. Those who had suffered from headache within the previous year also completed the questionnaire developed by Lifting the Burden. The International Classification of Headache Disorders 3(ICHD-3) criteria was used for the diagnosis of headache. RESULTS: A total of 2012 valid questionnaires (males, 1544 [76.7%]; females, 468 [23.3%]) were obtained from 2216 participants for a response rate of 90.8%. A total of 619 participants were diagnosed with primary headache, the one-year prevalence of which was 30.8%. Regarding the classification of the primary headache, 152 participants suffered from migraine, with a one-year prevalence of 7.6%; 440 and 27 suffered from tension-type headache and unclassified headaches, with one-year prevalences of 21.9 and 1.3%, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed that female gender was a risk factor for migraine and tension-type headache (OR 3.21[95% CI 2.28–4.53] and 1.88[95% CI 1.47–2.40], respectively). Age was also related to migraine and tension-type headache. The 41–50 age group had 2.02 times the probability of migraine, and the 31–40 age group had 1.89 times the probability of tension-type headaches compared to the 18–30 age group. Obesity and excessive computer use (more than 12 h per day) were also factors contributing to tension-type headache (OR: 2.61[95% CI 1.91–3.56] and 1.63[95% CI 1.18–2.25], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The one-year prevalence of primary headache in this population was 30.8%. The prevalence of tension-type headache in this population was higher than that in the general Chinese population. The occurrence of primary headache is correlated with many factors, among which excessive computer use significantly contributed to the risk of tension-type headache.