Epidemiologia

* epidemiology;
* migraine incidence;
* migraine prevalence;
* methodology
SYNOPSIS
Epidemiologic studies provide estimates of the scope and distribution of the public health problems posed by migraine. These studies have been facilitated by the development of the International Headache Society criteria for migraine, which have now been used in separate prevalence studies in severalcountries. In this article, we review some of the methodological challenges in studying migraine epidemiology, report recent results from studies using IHS criteria, and suggest directions for future research.
An Update on the Epidemiology of Migraine
1. Richard B. Lipton M.D.1, 
2. Stephen D. Silberstein M.D.2, 
3. Walter F. Stewart Ph.D., M.P.H.3
Article first published online: 18MAY 2005
DOI: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1994.hed3406319.x
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The Epidemiological Enigma of Migraine
W. E. WATERS1
Author Affiliations
1. 1 Epidemiology Unit (South Wales) of the Medical Research Council 4 Richmond Road, Cardiff, CF2 3AS, Great Britain
Present address: Senior Lecturer in Clinical Epidemiology and Community Medicine, South Block,Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO9 4XY, England.
* Received November 13, 1972

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The results of a community study of 1,718 individuals were used to test the hypothesis that migraine is a syndrome of headache and three features: a unilateral distribution; a warning that a headache is coming; and nausea accompanying a headache. Ahigh proportion of individuals in the general population had experienced some of these features during the year immediately preceding the community survey. These three migrainous features were especially common among those with severe headaches. With each of these three features the prevalences increased with the severity of the headache. There was little evidence that the three features occurred inthe same individual, during the twelve-month period, more frequently than would be expected on the basis of chance concurrences, depending simply on the separate prevalences of each feature. These epidemiological findings suggest the need for a more critical approach to the problems of defining migraine.
Linet MS, Stewart WF
Epidemiologic Reviews [1984, 6:107-139]
Type: Journal Article, Review-------------------------------------------------
Clinical and epidemiologic studies suggest that a number of factors are associated with the risk ofmigraine and precipitation of an attack. However, the degree to which causal associations can be inferred from reported studies is very limited and is a result of the methodological problems discussed throughout this review. The studyof migraine in many ways parallels the pattern seen in early investigations of other conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, because a number of methodological problems had to be resolved in the study of these conditions before significant progress could be made. To achieve significant advances in the improvement of our understanding of the causes of migraine, a number ofrelated issues must be addressed and resolved in future studies. Most noteworthy among these are Recognition of the probable heterogeneity ofmigraine, not merely in the manifestation of symptoms but, more importantly, in the existence of distinct etiologic subtypes. A number of findings suggest that some migraine subtypes are sensitive to certain precipitants, some appear to be a part of a moregeneralized constitutional disorder, and some are accompanied by a higher prevalence of migraine among family members. Efforts should be made in understanding the relationship between specific biochemical markers and traits (such as monoamine oxidase deficiency and tyramine sensitivity); precipitants related to the migraine attack; and epidemiologic characteristics such as age at onset and sex....