Epidemiological aspects of pain in patients with tension-type headache

Background. Tension-type headache is the most prevalent type of primary headaches, both in primary health care and occupational medicine or in neurology consultations, with important repercussions on patients' quality of life. To carry out a physiotherapy treatment, it is necessary to know the characteristics of the headache and its probable etiology, and take into account the aspects that can be modified, in order to choose the most effective treatment. The objective is to analyse the epidemiological aspects of tension-type headache in a sample of patients, characteristics of their pain, observed socio-demographic differences and intensity of their pain crises. Methods. The sample is made up of 84 patients diagnosed with tension-type headache, assessed through structured clinical interview. Not validated, with previous selection and voluntary participation. Results and Conclusions. Out of 84 patients, all of them met the inclusion criteria and replied to the interview), 81% were women, with mean age of 39,76 years (sd 11,38); 36,9% feeling pain in the occipital region, 35,7% in the interparietal area and 27.4% in the frontal region. 97,6% suffered from bilateral pain, 81% described non-throbbing pain, and 92,9% related pain of medium to moderate severity. In 71,4% of cases pain did not increase with physical activity. The average intensity of pain was 6,49 (sd 1,69). Half the patients related that the pain was triggered off by cough, during exertion and when blowing their nose, or with alcohol intake. The biggest aggravation factor was stress (70,2%), and patients were relieved by relaxation techniques in 50% of cases. TRANSLATIONTension-type headache is more frequent in women, with approximate mean age of 40 years and with history of primary headaches in their family. The generalised characteristics of the pain affect with medium intensity pain to the whole head, with more predominance in interparietal and occipital regions, gets worse with stress and is relieved by relaxation and sleep.