Headache in the Rural Village of Quiroga, Ecuador

Resumen

SYNOPSIS Epidemiologic studies on headache among the Mestizo population in the rural village of Quiroga, Ecuador, was carried out as part of a neuroepidemiologic project under sponsorship of the World Health Organization. The distribution and prevalence of headache according to age and sex taken from a sample of 1113 persons is reported. Of the total number of headache sufferers, 35% gave a history of only occasional headache; these were equally divided among males and females. The remainder or 65% regarded their headaches as severe or disabling; 81% were female. Of these, 43% described migrainous headaches. Among the males the headache classification was 77% tension‐type and 23% migrainous. The overall prevalence of migraine (both common and classical) was 11/1000 for males and 61.5/1000 for females. In a preliminary investigation of the association of headache and depression, 63% of 19 female sufferers scored clearly in the depressed range.