Clinical Profile of Migraine Headache with Special Reference to Trigger Factors in Medical College Set Up

Background and objectives Migraine is one of the disabling primary headache in the population. It affects the individual and society at large by loss of productivity by the sufferers and enormous economic burden. There are multiple factors which can trigger migraine. If properly controlled, it can reduce the burden of migraine. Health care professionals are exposed to multiple trigger factors like sleep disturbance, stress and untimely food habits which give rise to increase in migraine frequency. We conducted this study of detailed clinical profile and trigger factors among the 2050 subjects (MBBS students 909, BDS students 323, Nursing students 268, Post graduates students and staff 550) in our medical institute. Methods Subjects were given questionnaires on migraine headache and instructed to give details of clinical features with special reference to trigger factors. The assessment tools used were visual analogue scale (VAS) and migraine disability assessment scale (MIDAS). Results Out of 2050 subjects 697 suffered from migraine headache. The overall prevalence of migraine headache was 34 %. Out of which females had higher prevalence (66.1 %) as compared to males (33.8 %). Headache experienced by majority of student population was unilateral (31.4 %), pulsating type (51.6 %) and of moderate intensity (77.1 %). Common associated symptoms were nausea associated with other factors (40 %) and photophobia& phonophobia (18.6 %). Stress (72.1 %)& decreased sleep (49.4 %) were the most common triggering factors. Practice of self-medication was reported by 80.2 % of subjects. Specific anti migraine medication use in migraineurs was found to be low (7.7 %) showing inadequate management of migraine headache in our study population. Conclusion Our study noted high frequency of trigger factors in medical professionals and most common triggering factor was stress and disturbed sleep. There was very low usage of specific anti migraine medications among them. To our knowledge this is the first large study to evaluate migraine among medical professionals. .