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Título

Prevalence and Impact of Migraine Among Health Sciences Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Resumo

Introduction: It has been shown that migraine has a significant presence and negative impact on students’ quality of life and academic achievement. Health Sciences Students are exposed to specific types of risk factors that may contribute to the prevalence of migraine.
Objective: This study aims to evaluate the presence and persistence of migraine in students of health services and its impacts.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the University of Caxias do Sul, Brazil. A web-based survey between the second semester of 2020 and the first semester of 2021 was sent to students of health sciences’ course. The survey contained questions regarding demographics, lifestyle, headache aspects and the ID-Migraine. The ID-Migraine™ was a questionnaire proposed in 2003 as a way to identify migraine in outpatient primary care and was found to be a valid and reliable screening instrument. It was the tool chosen to assess the prevalence of Migraine among the students. A multivariate model was used to investigate potential associations with migraine and disability reported.
Results: The survey was responded by 504 students. The majority (90.1%; N=379) of students had headaches in the last three months. According to the ID-Migraine, 71.9% (N=350/454) of the students presented with migraine. To manage their headaches, 80.8% (N=367/454) of the respondents had resorted to the use of pharmacotherapy. Only 20.9% (N=77/367) of them had these medications prescribed by a physician. There was no significant association (p<0.05) regarding both functional impairment and migraine with semester, hours of work per day, time spent at the university per week and time spent in physical exercises per day. Hours of study were significant (p<0.05) on functional impairment.
Conclusions: Migraine prevalence among health Science students is high compared to other studies. The population studied used self-medication to treat their pain. There was no difference in functional impairment and migraine when we consider the year of graduation, hours of work per day, time spent at the university per week and time spent in physical exercises per day. Hours of study were an important triggering factor for pain.