Migraine and tension-type headache among undergraduate medical, dental and pharmaceutical students of University of Aleppo: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Headache disorders are among the most common 10 causes of disability worldwide according to the global burden of disease survey 2010. Headache is also wildly common among universities students when compared with other populations. The purpose of this study is to assess headache prevalence among Aleppo University medical, dental and pharmaceutical undergraduate students. METHODS: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among medical, dental and pharmaceutical students at Aleppo University, Syria. We determined the type of headache according to the International Classification of Headache Disorder-III. The total number of participants was 2068. A χ(2) test was used to evaluate the association between the categorical outcomes. P<0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Out of 2068 participants, 1604 (77.6%) were medical students, 205 (9.9%) were dental students and 259 (12.5%) were pharmaceutical students. The effect on daily activities was higher in chronic tension headache (96.7%) and migraine without aura (94.6%) than migraine with aura (91.3) and episodic tension headache (85.1%). Out of 1191 who had a headache, only 188 (15.9%) had a medical consultation. CONCLUSIONS: There was no a statistically significant difference in prevalence of tension headache and migraine according to faculties. There was a statistically significant difference in patients with migraine according to academic year, living with family and smoking. The effect on daily activities was higher in chronic tension-type headache and migraine without aura. There is a significant lack of medical consultation among students and most of them took over the counter analgesics depending on personal choice.