The Study of Epidemiologic, Demographic and Clinical Characteristics in Patients with Migraine Headache Referring to Neurology Clinics of Vali-Asr and Imam Reza Hospitals in Arak City

Background: Migraine is one of the prevalent disabling disorders. Considering geographical differences in reported epidemiology and improving patients care, the aim of the present study was to evaluate epidemiologic, demographic and clinical characteristics in patients with migraine headache in Arak. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional and descriptive study was conducted on patients with migraine headache referred to the neurology clinics of Vali-Asr and Imam Reza hospitals of Arak for 6 months. A questionnaire containing the demographic, epidemiologic and clinical data was filled by patients. Finally, data were analyzed using SPSS 18. Results: Among 820 patients with headache, 92 (11.21%) subjects were confirmed to have migraine headaches. Of the 92 patients, 54.3% were women and 45.6% were men. The mean age was 36.9±9.2 years old and 50% were married. The most common migraine triggers were stress (78.2%), sleep disturbances (65.2%), and fatigue (63%). The mean frequency of headaches was 6.9±3.5 attacks per month with an average duration of 11.1±4.5 hours per attack. Conclusion: According to our results, the prevalence of migraine in women is more than in men. Dizziness, visual disturbances, nausea, no aura, headache is one-sided and pulsating are significantly accompanied by migraine. The number of consumed sedative pills in the month, brain imaging and a monthly fee of headache were significant. In total, clinical characteristics of migraine headaches in our patients were nearly compatible with the International Headache Society (IHS) criteria.