Table 6 Characteristics of participants not seeking medical advice despite agreeing or strongly agreeing that headache is a burden on everyday life, and reasons for not doing so
Enquiry | Response according to reported headache frequency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
How often do you have headache (past year)? | All participants n = 493 (100%) | At least once a week n = 297 (60.2%) | A couple of times a month n = 188 (38.1%) | A couple of times a year n = 8 (1.6%) | Less frequently n = 0 (0%) |
Age, years | |||||
Mean ± SD | 39.0 ± 11.0 | 38.3 ± 11.5 | 40.1 ± 10.4 | 38.3 ± 9.7 | N/A |
Proportion, n (%) | |||||
Gender | |||||
Male | 94 (19.1%) | 59 (19.5%) | 34 (18.1%) | 2 (25%) | N/A |
Female | 399 (80.9%) | 239 (80.5%) | 154 (81.9%) | 6 (75%) | N/A |
Headache type | |||||
Tension-type headache | 309 (62.7%) | 199 (67.0%) | 107 (56.9%) | 3 (37.5%) | N/A |
Migraine | 183 (37.1%) | 102 (34.3%) | 75 (39.9%) | 6 (75.0%) | N/A |
Cluster headache | 7 (1.4%) | 5 (1.7%) | 2 (1.1%) | 0 (0%) | N/A |
Post-traumatic headache | 16 (3.2%) | 15 (5.1%) | 1 (0.5%) | 0 (0%) | N/A |
Other headache disorder | 39 (7.9%) | 25 (8.4%) | 13 (6.9%) | 1 (12.5%) | N/A |
Unknown | 151 (30.6%) | 89 (30.0%) | 60 (31.9%) | 2 (25.0%) | N/A |
Reason | |||||
My headache is not bad enough to go to the doctor | 51 (10.3%) | 20 (6.7%) | 30 (16.0%) | 1 (12.5%) | N/A |
I have considered talking to my doctor but have not been able to do so | 133 (27.0%) | 81 (27.3%) | 48 (25.5%) | 4 (50.0%) | N/A |
I do not know if my doctor can help me with my headache | 224 (45.4%) | 143 (48.1%) | 79 (42.0%) | 2 (25.0%) | N/A |
I do not need my doctor's help to manage my headache | 58 (11.8%) | 41 (13.8%) | 17 (9.0%) | 0 (0%) | N/A |
Other | 27 (5.5%) | 12 (4.0%) | 14 (7.4%) | 1 (12.5%) | N/A |