Headache among medical and psychology students

Headaches occur frequently and thus are a key component of sociocentric medical education. OBJECTIVE: To study headaches among students of medicine and psychology in a single university. METHOD: This was a questionnaire-based survey of a cohort of students of medicine and psychology. RESULTS: The overall lifetime prevalence of headache was 98 percent and over the last year, 91 percent. Tensional headache accounted for 59 percent and migraine 22 percent in medicine; and 48.5 percent and 32 percent respectively in psychology. Forty-five percent reported that headaches had a variable sporadic impact on their productivity. The self-medication rate was 77 percent. Thirty-six percent reported worsening since admission to the university. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of headaches was very high. Tension-type headaches predominated in males and migraine in females. Tension-type was more frequent among medical students than among psychology students; migraine was more frequent in psychology (more females) than in medicine. Both kinds of students reported that headaches caused low interference with daily activities. The students reported that their symptoms had worsened since admission to the university.