Major life changes may play a role in chronic daily headache that arise among otherwise healthy adult men and women. American researchers conducted a study on 206 men and women who fulfilled the criteria for chronic daily headache i.e. 180 or more headache days per year. They also assessed similar reports from 507 men and women with "episodic" headache i.e. 2 to 104 headache days per year. The researchers considered major life changes or events in the life of the participants like change of residence, employment status, marital status, relationship with their children, deaths of relatives or close friends, and `extremely stressful' ongoing situations occurring in a defined time period. In comparison with men and women with episodic headache, men and women with chronic daily headache episodes were more likely to have experienced major life events in the 2 years period prior to their headache condition. The strongest predictor of chronic daily headache was an ongoing extremely stressful situation. The researchers also observed a high proportion of chronic daily headache among people 40 years and older. The findings revealed that change in the work status of people older than 40 years of age is more likely to lead to chronic daily headaches. In comparison, people younger than 40 years of age showed decreased risk of chronic daily headaches after job change. They also suggested that major life events may precipitate or co-occur with the development of chronic daily headaches.
Cephalalgia
August 2008
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