Headache status survey targeting 500 domestic office workers
“Headache more than 8 days a month… Active management”
It was revealed that 8 out of 10 office workers have experienced work-related disruptions due to headaches. About 20% of office workers experienced headaches more than 8 days a month.
The Korean Headache Society announced on the 23rd the results of a survey on the ‘Status of Headaches in Office Workers’ conducted via mobile from August 21 to 23, targeting 500 office workers who experienced headaches in the past year among users of the office worker platform ‘Remember’.
According to the survey results, the number of days that office workers had headaches in a month was ‘1 to 4 days (50.4%, 252 people)’ the most. This was followed by ‘4 to 8 days (29%, 145 people)’, ‘8 to 15 days (13.6%, 68 people)’, and ’15 days or more (7%, 35 people)’.
“About 20% of all respondents reported experiencing headaches more than eight days a month,” said Joo Min-kyung, president of the Korean Headache Society and professor of neurology at Severance Hospital. “It was revealed that two out of ten office workers need more active headache treatment (management).”
The most common headache symptoms experienced by office workers over the past year included ‘a feeling as if the head was being pressed, squeezed, or wrapped around a band (40.6%, 203 people)’, ‘a pain as if being stabbed with a needle for 1 to 3 seconds (24%, 120 people)’, and ‘a throbbing or pounding sensation in the head as if the heart was beating (17.4%, 87 people)’.
Among the headache symptoms, accompanying symptoms experienced by the respondents included ‘noise discomfort that was usually not felt when having a headache (71.2%, 356 people)’, ‘light or bright places are irritating or uncomfortable (51.6%, 258 people)’, ‘headache when feeling sick or queasy (42.2%, 211 people)’, ‘sick or queasy when having a headache (40.6%, 203 people)’, and ‘vomiting (17.8%, 89 people)’.
Based on this, the headache types of the respondents analyzed were migraine (68.8%, 344 people), tension-type headache (18.2%, 91 people), primary stabbing headache (5.2%, 26 people), and others (7.8%, 39 people), in that order.
Among the 344 migraine sufferers, approximately 20% had frequent episodic migraines (14%, 48 people) with headaches occurring 8 to 15 days a month, and chronic migraines (6%, 21 people) with headaches occurring 15 or more days a month. In particular, respondents complaining of chronic migraines were found to have suffered from headaches for approximately 14.9 days a month, indicating that they suffered from headaches for half of the month.
When asked about their response when experiencing a headache, more than half of the respondents answered that they ‘take painkillers (58.8%, 294 people)’. The remaining respondents answered that they ‘rest until the headache goes away (18.8%, 94 people)’, ‘just endure it (17.4%, 87 people)’, or ‘visit the hospital (4.4%, 22 people)’.
Awareness of active headache treatment and management was found to be low. The most common reason for not visiting a hospital for headache was ‘I put off visiting the hospital because I was busy and had no time’ (24.32%, 214 people). This was followed by ‘I didn’t think it was a treatable disease’ (20.91%, 184 people), ‘It was controlled with general painkillers’ (20.34%, 179 people), ‘The symptoms were bearable’ (18.75%, 165 people), ‘I didn’t know which hospital to go to’ (7.39%, 65 people), ‘I didn’t know if there were specialists or medications’ (3.98%, 35 people), ‘It was expensive’ (2.73%, 24 people), and ‘others’ (1.59%, 14 people).
Chairman Joo said, “Although the majority of office workers are having difficulties in their daily lives due to headaches and various accompanying symptoms, awareness of the severity and need for management is low.” He added, “If headaches persist or are severe, you should suspect migraines and visit a neurologist to receive an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment.”
The majority of respondents reported having had work-related difficulties due to headaches. Eight out of ten respondents (78%, 390 people) said they had had work-related difficulties due to headaches. Of these, 41.54% (162 people) said that they had difficulty concentrating on work more than usual due to headaches. 38.97% (152 people) said that they felt physically tired and wanted to lie down to rest, and 15.13% (59 people) said that they had difficulty attending meetings or conferences, although they did not miss work.
There was also a lack of awareness of migraine, one of the representative headache diseases. Migraine headaches are common on both sides and are accompanied by symptoms such as photophobia, phonophobia, and odorphobia along with severe headaches, but 82.2% (411 people) of the respondents misunderstood migraine as a headache that mainly feels like a headache on one side of the head.
In addition, in a question asking respondents to select all the symptoms they already know about migraine, 37.9% (448 people) answered ‘I feel like my head is going to split’, 17.68% (209 people) answered ‘I feel dizzy, vomit, or feel nauseous’, 17.6% (208 people) answered ‘I feel uncomfortable with light or bright places when I have a headache’, 15.57% (184 people) answered ‘I become sensitive to sound or smell’, and 11.25% (133 people) answered ‘My vision suddenly becomes dark and blurry’, showing that awareness of migraine symptoms such as light, vision, sound, smell, vomiting, and nausea is low.
When asked whether migraine is a preventable disease, nearly half of the respondents (46.4%, 232 people) answered that migraine is an unpreventable disease, indicating that accurate information and education about migraine is necessary.
Chairman Joo said, “Since migraines are often misunderstood as headaches that only occur on one side of the head due to the name of the disease, many migraine patients do not even know that their symptoms are migraines.” He added, “The society will continue to carry out activities to improve awareness of migraines, such as dispelling misunderstandings about migraines and providing correct information about them.”
[서울=뉴시스]
2024-09-23 05:36:24