Health Care : Current Reviews

PREVALENCE AND CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HEADACHE AMONG MEDICAL, PHARMACY, AND HEALTH SCIENCES STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF SHARJAH

8^th World Congress on Healthcare & Medical Tourism

November 17-18, 2016 | Dubai UAE

Taher, M. , Al Ali, M.; Al Khouly, M.; Azrak, O.; Kilani, M.;

University of Sharjah, U.A.E

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Health Care: Current Reviews

Abstract:

Background: Headache is the most common neurological disorder, especially among university students. It shows significant effects on their academic, social, and personal lives. Objectives: Our objectives in this study are to determine the prevalence, clinical characteristics, impact and management strategies among students of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health Sciences colleges at the University of Sharjah. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among 471 students. Data was analyzed by SPSS-22 using inferential statistics tests, including Chi-square and odds ratio. MIDAS was adopted, with some modifications, for measuring headache impact. Results: Prevalence of headache showed to be 95%CI, 84.9%±0.0323% over the last six months. Comparing Medicine to Pharmacy, medical students were 2.9 times (90.3%) more likely to experience headache (P=0.001). There was a significant correlation between headache and wearing corrective eye lenses (P=0.033) as 87.9% of students who use corrective eye lenses reported having headaches. Majority reported having one headache episode per month (35%), for less than an hour (46.5%), during the afternoon (39.5%), described it as tightness (46.1%), frontal (35.5%), worsened since enrolment in university (66.8%), moderate in severity (51.6%), with dizziness (31.8%), with no warning signs before episode (62%). Few students (3.3%) reported that headache had significant impact on missing university. However, headaches rarely minimal decreased productivity in university among 62.3% of students. Stress/tension and too little sleep were the most reported factors that predisposed headache episodes, 84.4% and 83.1% respectively. Sleep was the main strategy of management followed by majority of students (72.5%), while few sought health professionals (5.8%). Conclusion: A majority of undergraduates suffer from headaches, which affects their academic and daily performances. Therefore, it�??s recommended that more attention should be drawn toward this issue, with better guidance on how to manage it more efficiently.

Biography :

Email: meena.mohammed@hotmail.com