FAQ's for Headache & Migraines
Statistics: How Prevalent Are Headaches & Migraines?

HEADACHE:

Nearly all of us will suffer headaches during our lifetimes. In australia nearly 15% of the population were taking medication for headaches, according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey in 1995.

According to this same survey, headaches were the "most commonly reported individual recent illness condition"; in addition the survey also states that "persons aged 25-44 years were more likely to report headaches than persons in other age groups".

2.2 million people reported headaches beginning in recent times, and 22,000 reported headaches occuring over the longer term, all due to "unspecified or trivial causes".

There are many different causes for headaches, and this is the most likely reason why they are so common.

MIGRAINES:

Although less frequent in prevalence, migraines will affect around 5% of the male population, and 15% of the female population (this varies for different populations and countries around the world).

It is thought that more women suffer migraines than men due to hormonal factors, and certainly there is evidence to suggest that levels of oestrogen and progesterone do play a role; but there is still much controversy over exactly how this occurs; and it would also seem that hormones alone are not enough to cause most sufferers to have a migraine.

Migraines also have a number of different causes; and it would seem that in most cases a number of these causes may interact to produce a migraine attack.

See Treatments Section

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