TY - JOUR

T1 - The prevalence and demographic associations of headache in the adult population of Benin

T2 - a cross-sectional population-based study

AU - Adoukonou, Thierry

AU - Agbetou, Mendinatou

AU - Dettin, Eric

AU - Kossi, Oyene

AU - Husøy, Andreas

AU - Thomas, Hallie

AU - Houinato, Dismand

AU - Steiner, Timothy J.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Background: The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study is increasingly well informed with regard to headache disorders, but sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains one of the large regions of the world with limited data directly derived from population-based studies. The Global Campaign against Headache has conducted three studies in this region: Ethiopia in the east, Zambia in the south and Cameroon in Central SSA. Here we report a similar study in Benin, the first from West SSA. Methods: We used the same methods and questionnaire, applying cluster-randomized sampling in three regions of the country, randomly selecting households in each region, visiting these unannounced and randomly selecting one adult member (aged 18–65 years) of each household. The HARDSHIP structured questionnaire, translated into Central African French, was administered face-to-face by trained interviewers. Demographic enquiry was followed by diagnostic questions based on ICHD-3 criteria. Results: From 2,550 households with eligible members, we recruited 2,400 participants (participating proportion 94.1%). Headache ever was reported by almost all (95.2%), this being the lifetime prevalence. Headache in the last year was reported by 74.9%. Age-, gender- and habitation-adjusted estimates of 1-year prevalence were 72.9% for all headache, 21.2% for migraine (including definite and probable), 43.1% for TTH (also including definite and probable), 4.5% for probable medication-overuse (pMOH) and 3.1% for other headache on ≥ 15 days/month. One-day (point) prevalence of headache was 14.8% according to reported headache on the day preceding interview. Conclusions: Overall, these findings are evidence that headache disorders are very common in Benin, a low-income country. The prevalence of pMOH, well above the estimated global mean of 1–2%, is evidence that poverty is not a bar to medication overuse. The findings are very much the same as those in a similar study in its near neighbour, Cameroon. With regard to migraine, they are reasonably in accord with two of three earlier studies in selected Beninese populations, which did not take account of probable migraine. This study adds to the hitherto limited knowledge of headache in SSA.

AB - Background: The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study is increasingly well informed with regard to headache disorders, but sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains one of the large regions of the world with limited data directly derived from population-based studies. The Global Campaign against Headache has conducted three studies in this region: Ethiopia in the east, Zambia in the south and Cameroon in Central SSA. Here we report a similar study in Benin, the first from West SSA. Methods: We used the same methods and questionnaire, applying cluster-randomized sampling in three regions of the country, randomly selecting households in each region, visiting these unannounced and randomly selecting one adult member (aged 18–65 years) of each household. The HARDSHIP structured questionnaire, translated into Central African French, was administered face-to-face by trained interviewers. Demographic enquiry was followed by diagnostic questions based on ICHD-3 criteria. Results: From 2,550 households with eligible members, we recruited 2,400 participants (participating proportion 94.1%). Headache ever was reported by almost all (95.2%), this being the lifetime prevalence. Headache in the last year was reported by 74.9%. Age-, gender- and habitation-adjusted estimates of 1-year prevalence were 72.9% for all headache, 21.2% for migraine (including definite and probable), 43.1% for TTH (also including definite and probable), 4.5% for probable medication-overuse (pMOH) and 3.1% for other headache on ≥ 15 days/month. One-day (point) prevalence of headache was 14.8% according to reported headache on the day preceding interview. Conclusions: Overall, these findings are evidence that headache disorders are very common in Benin, a low-income country. The prevalence of pMOH, well above the estimated global mean of 1–2%, is evidence that poverty is not a bar to medication overuse. The findings are very much the same as those in a similar study in its near neighbour, Cameroon. With regard to migraine, they are reasonably in accord with two of three earlier studies in selected Beninese populations, which did not take account of probable migraine. This study adds to the hitherto limited knowledge of headache in SSA.

KW - Benin

KW - Epidemiology

KW - Global Campaign against Headache

KW - Headache

KW - Medication-overuse headache

KW - Migraine

KW - Population-based study

KW - Prevalence

KW - Sub-Saharan Africa

KW - Tension-type headache

U2 - 10.1186/s10194-024-01760-z

DO - 10.1186/s10194-024-01760-z

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38580904

AN - SCOPUS:85189873551

VL - 25

JO - Journal of Headache and Pain

JF - Journal of Headache and Pain

SN - 1129-2369

M1 - 52

ER -