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Neurol Sci (2013) 34 (Suppl 1):S137S138 DOI 10.1007/s10072-013-1370-4
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Prevalence of tension-type headache in adult general population: the PACE study and review of the literature
T. Ferrante G. C. Manzoni M. Russo
C. Camarda A. Taga L. Veronesi
C. Pasquarella G. Sansebastiano P. Torelli
Springer-Verlag Italia 2013
Abstract The mean global prevalence of tension-type headache (TTH) in adult is 42 %. To date, there have been no Italian studies on TTH prevalence in the adult general population. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional study, called PACE (PArma CEfalea, or Headache in Parma), aimed at detecting the prevalence and clinical features of primary headaches in the city of Parmas adult general population. Crude past-year prevalence for denite TTH was 19.4 % (95 % CI 16.821.9), namely 9.0 % (95 % CI 7.110.8) for infrequent TTH, 9.8 % (95 % CI7.911.8) for frequent TTH, and 0.6 % (95 % CI 0.11) for chronic TTH. Crude prevalence for probable TTH was2.3 % (95 % CI 1.33.3). Our study results indicate a TTH prevalence rate (19.4 %) at the lower limit of data ranges currently available for Western countries, and prevalence rates for infrequent forms (9 %) do not appear much different from those of frequent forms (9.8 %).
Keywords Headache Tension-type headache
Past-year prevalence Epidemiology Review
Introduction
Primary headaches are widely spread all over the world and are associated with a wide range of medical and psychiatric comorbidities [1, 2]. In the adult population, tension-type headache (TTH) has a mean global prevalence of 42 % [3]. In Italy, the prevalence of TTH in the general population has been little studied so far. Therefore, we deemed it useful to conduct a cross-sectional study, called PACE (PArma CEfalea, or Headache in Parma), aimed at detecting the prevalence and clinical features of primary headaches in the city of Parmas adult general population. In this paper we report data about the past-year prevalence of TTH and its subtypes, including probable TTH (pTTH).
Materials and methods
Materials and methods are extensively...