To the Editor: The 2 April issue of the Journal contained several articles on pain, but no mention of patients who suffer with head pain. Headache is one of the commonest acute and chronic pain conditions. Studies have shown that episodic migraine affects 18% of women and 8% of men.1 Daily headache afflicts 4% of people worldwide, and half have chronic migraine.2 According to data from the World Health Organization, migraine ranks eighth in the global burden of disability resulting from mental, neurological and substance-use disorders.3
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- 1. Stovner LJ, Hagen K, Jensen R, et al. The global burden of headache: a documentation of headache prevalence and disability worldwide. Cephalalgia 2007; 27: 193-210.
- 2. Vargas BB, Dodick DW. The face of chronic migraine: epidemiology, demographics, and treatment strategies. Neurol Clin 2009; 27: 467-479.
- 3. Collins PY, Patel V, Joestl SS, et al. Grand challenges in global mental health. Nature 2011; 475: 27-30.
- 4. World Health Organization. Atlas of headache disorders and resources in the world 2011. http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/atlas_headache_disorders/en/index.html (accessed Jun 2012).
- 5. StollzNow Research. Migraine 2011 report. http://headacheaustralia.org.au/images/stories/PDFs/MSD_Migraine_2011_Report.pdf (accessed May 2012).
- 6. Painaustralia. National pain strategy: pain management for all Australians http://www.chronicpainaustralia.org.au/files/PainStrategy2010Final.pdf (accessed Jul 2012).
I receive financial support from the Australian Brain Foundation.