Headache in men: forgotten in practice and ignored in research

In general practice, the sex-specific consultation rate for headache is only slightly lower for men than it is for women. Headache is 2 to 3 times more common in women than it is in men, and women outnumber men in general practice by 2-fold. However, in headache practice they seem to outnumber men by 4- to 5-fold, suggesting a specific barrier to seeking specialty care. Although there is extensive literature specifically concerning headache in women, a PubMed search did not reveal any publications specifically addressing the problem in men, with the exception of cluster headache, a well-known headache condition that is more frequent in men. As a first attempt at filling this void, we analyzed the headache features, associated symptoms, and precipitating, aggravating, and relieving factors in 100 randomly selected men from a headache practice. Our results indicate that headache is a significant medical problem in men, and they seem to be underrepresented when it comes to seeking expert headache care.