[Prevalence of migraine in a homogeneous population using the self-questionnaire 'Alcoi-1995']

There are numerous studies of the prevalence of migraine and very varied findings. Amongst the many reasons for this would seem to be the use of questionnaires for screening populations, absent or incorrect validation of these questionnaires and the use of impracticable diagnostic criteria.

To determine the prevalence of migraine in a homogeneous population using the self-questionnaire 'Alcoi 1995' which had previously been validated for the diagnosis of migraine. A self-questionnaire was given to all workers in the same company. Diagnostic criteria of the International Headache Society (IHS, 1988) were used for diagnosis of migraine.

The study included 140 persons (43.6% men and 56.4% women with an average age of 26.7 +/- 4.8 years). There was a prevalence of headache and migraine (IC 95%): 90.8% (75.01-100) and 24.3% (16.3-32.3) respectively. The sex prevalence of headache and migraine was 88.5% (88.3-88.8) and 11.5% (3.4-19.4) for men and 34.2% (21.5-47) for women respectively.

There are a large number of studies of the prevalence of migraine with wide variability in the figures obtained (1-2 at 35%). These variations depend on the population studied, age and sex sampled, diagnostic criteria used and the method employed in the survey. After validation of the questionnaire for diagnosis of migraine, this should be used in homogeneous populations before use in broad population studies. Our findings support the use of a suitably validated questionnaire as a useful method for the diagnosis of migraine in epidemiological studies.