Table 1 Main relevant studies on the prevalence of primary headaches in MS patients
Authors and year of publication | Study design | MS pts Number (N) F: % Mean/median age or age range (years) | Case source | Controls Number (N) F: % Mean/median age (years) | Control source | MS diagnosis criteria | Headache diagnosis criteria | Pts Migraine prevalence (%) | Controls Migraine prevalence (%) | Pts Other headaches | Controls Other headaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Watkins & Espir 1969 [55] | Case-control | N = 100 (F: 64%) Age range = 15–50 years | Hospital | N = 100 (F: 64%) Mean age: 15–20 years | Hospital | Mc Alpine (1961) | Critchley definition for migraine (1967) | 27% | 12% |  |  |
Zorzon et al. 2003 [75] | Case-control | N = 140 (F: 64%) Mean age: 42.1 years | MS centres (mostly) | N = 131 Age and sex matched | Blood transfusion centre | Mc Donald et al. (2001) | NA | 13.6% | 0.7% | Â | Â |
Vacca et al. 2007 [66] | Case-Control | N = 238 (F: 65%) Median age: 40 years | Hospital (mostly) | N = 238 (F: 65%) Median age: 43 years | Friends | Mc Donald et al. (2001) | ICHD 2004 | MwA: 31% MA: 3.7% PMwA: 6.3% | Mwa: 13% MA: 2.5% PMwa:2.9% | ETH: 6.3% CTTH: 0.8 | ETTH:5.9% CTTH:0.0% |
Nicoletti et al. 2008 [64] | Case-control | N = 101 (F: 64.4% Mean age: 43.6 years | Cohort | N = 101 (F: 60.3%) Mean age: 35.4 years | General population selection through random digit dialling | Poser (1983) | ICHD 1988 | 19.8% | 15.8% | TTH 27.7% | TTH: 16.8% |
Putzki et al. 2009 [65] | Case-control | N = 491 (F: 68%) Mean age: 45.3 years | Hospital (mostly) | N = 447 (F: 69.1%) Mean age: 45.4 years | Historical controls from German Headache Study | Poser (1983) or Mc Donald et al. (2001) | ICHD 2004 | 24.6% | 39.9% | TTH 37.2% | TTH 34.4% |
Kister et al. 2010 [62] | Cross-sectional case control | 204 (F% NA) Mean age: 45 years | MS care centre | N = 162,576 (F% NA) Mean age: NA | AMP population | Mc Donald et al. (2001) | ICHD 2004 | 46.1% | 11.7% | TTH: 28% | NA |
Kister 2012 [76] | Prospective cohort study (period: 1989–2005) | N = 542 (F: 100%) 140 prevalent cases 402 incident cases Mean age: 45 | NHS-II cohort (UK) | N = 97898 (non-MS people) (F% NA) Mean age: NA | NHS-II cohort (UK) | Mc Donald et al. (2001) | ICHD 2004 | Prevalent cases 26% Incident cases: 29% | 21% |  |  |
Simpson 2014 [73] | Case control | N = 3826 (F: 72.3%) Mean age: NA | Scottish Primary Care dataset | N = 1, 268, 859 (F: 51.1%) Mean age: NA | Scottish Primary Care dataset | NA* | Migraine = ≥ 4 only anti-migraine prescriptions in last year | OR 2.38; 95% CI 1.91–2.97) |  |  |  |
Gustavsen 2016 [71] | Cross-sectional case control | N = 510 (F: 73.6%) Mean age: 50.7 years | Oslo MS Registry | N = 914 (F: 58.3%) Mean age: 43.9 years | Norwegian Bone Marrow Donor Registry | McDonald revised (2011) | ICHD 2004 | 18.2% | 16.3% | TTH 12.7% | TTH 14.9% |