• Yan Wang, Jingdan Xie, Fei Yang, Shiwen Wu, Hebo Wang, Xiaolan Zhang, Hua Liu, Xin Deng, and Shengyuan Yu.
• International Headache Center, Department of Neurology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Fuxing Road 28, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China. yusy1963@126.com.
• J Headache Pain. 2015 Jan 1;16:4.

BackgroundEpidemiological data on the prevalence of headache in nursing staff in Mainland China are lacking. We therefore performed a study to assess the prevalence of headache, and factors associated with headaches, in nursing staff in three hospitals in North China.MethodsStratified random cluster sampling was used to select 1102 nurses from various departments in three hospitals. A structured questionnaire was used to collect epidemiological data, headache characteristics and associated factors.ResultsThe response rate was 93.0%. Among nursing staff, the 1-year prevalence of primary headache disorders was 45.3%, of migraine 14.8% (migraine with aura 3.4%, migraine without aura 11.4%), of tension-type headache (TTH) 26.2%, of chronic daily headache (CDH) 2.7%. Multivariate analysis showed that seniority (≥5 years) was a risk factor for migraine (OR 2.280), obesity (BMI ≥ 25) was a risk factor for TTH and CDH (OR 1.684 and 3.184), and age (≥40 years) was a risk factor for CDH (OR 8.455). Nurses working in internal medicine were more likely to suffer CDH than those in other departments. Working a greater number of night shifts was also associated with increased prevalence of headache.ConclusionThe prevalence of primary headache disorders in nurses is higher than that in the general population in China, and occupational factors may play an important role. Therefore, the prevalence of headache in nurses should be a focus of attention, and coping strategies should be provided. Such measures could contribute to improving patient care.

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