The journal of headache and pain
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Comparative Study
Economic impact of primary headaches in Turkey: a university hospital based study: part II.
This study was planned to investigate the economic impact of headache on Turkish headache sufferers attending a tertiary care outpatient headache clinic. A total of 937 headache patients were included in this study and questioned using a questionnaire for the profile of patients and headache, quality of life of patients and economic impact of headache. The median total direct cost was found to be 88.0 USD and the median total cost was 160.7 USD. ⋯ The average lost and inefficient work/school days was 1.5 (0-45) and 8.4 (0-100) days for one year. It was shown that loss of productivity was higher for migraine without aura group when compared with the episodic and chronic tension-type headache groups. The results of this nationwide university hospital based study methshowed that headache, especially migraine, has considerable economic impact on patients.
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Comparative Study
The association between headache and Val158Met polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene: the HUNT Study.
The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene contains a functional polymorphism, Val158Met, that has been found to influence human pain perception, and one study has found that migraine was less likely among those with the Val/Val polymorphism. In the 1995-97 Nord-Trøndelag Health (HUNT) Study, the association between the Val158Met polymorphism and headache was evaluated in a random sample of 2451 individuals. ⋯ Among women, a lower prevalence of non-migrainous headache was found among individuals with the Val/Val genotype than among those with other genotypes (26.2% vs. 33.6%, p = 0.04). That non-migrainous headache was less likely among women with the Val/Val genotype may be an incidental finding, but should be investigated in further studies.