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. 2008 Aug 9;9(5):289–294. doi: 10.1007/s10194-008-0062-6

A face-to-face interview of participants in HUNT 3: the impact of the screening question on headache prevalence

Knut Hagen 1,2,✉, John-Anker Zwart 1,3, Anne Hege Aamodt 1,2, Kristian Berhard Nilsen 1,2, Geir Bråthen 1,2, Grethe Helde 1, Marit Stjern 1,2, Erling A Tronvik 1,2, Lars Jacob Stovner 1,2
PMCID: PMC3452193  PMID: 18690490

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the screening question phrasing on the 1-year prevalence figures of headache disorders, including migraine. Of a random sample of 563 invited participants in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey 2006–2008 in Norway, 297 (53%) met to a face-to-face interview. There were 74.1% that reported having had headache during the last year, whereas only 31.0% stated that they had suffered from headache in the same period. The 1-year prevalence of migraine was 17.2% and of tension-type headache (TTH) 51.9%. Migraine was ten times more likely (OR = 9.96, 95% CI 4.75–20.91) among those who stated that they were headache sufferers than among those who were not. Only headache sufferers had chronic TTH or medication-overuse headache. Thus “Have you suffered from headache?” can be a useful screening question in population-based questionnaire studies if the goal is to identify most migraineurs and almost all individuals with chronic headache.

Keywords: Screening, Question, Headache, Migraine, Prevalence

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Acknowledgments

The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (The HUNT study) is a collaboration between The HUNT Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and the Nord-Trøndelag County Council.

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