- Explains the burden of headache and its financial cost
- Examines society’s response, its shortcomings, and options for improvement
- Includes a section on methodological issues
This volume describes the impact of headache disorders on public health, and their adverse consequences for society.
It opens with an overview of relevant headache disorders before describing, qualitatively, how the burdens attributable to these disorders fall upon adults, adolescents and children. In the second section, beginning with a methodological introduction discussing the principles and potential pitfalls of epidemiological studies assessing prevalence, headache-attributed burden and functional impact, the burdens of headache including financial cost are examined quantitatively and in detail. The third section critically reviews society’s response, its inadequacies and the scope for improvement.
Topics here include the political failure to recognize the public ill-health and cost that are the consequences of inadequate headache care; the role of the WHO in addressing the problem; headache service organization, delivery and quality; and the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions. The book closes by considering the way forward.
This volume contains important messages for primary care and is likely to be of even greater interest to headache specialists and those concerned with public health and health policy.
Table of ContentsHeadache and Public Ill Health- Introduction
- The Meaning of “Headache” in the Context of Society
- Headache in Children and Adolescents: A Broader Approach Is Needed than in Adults
- Headache-Attributed Burden: Its Qualitative Components
- Headache Disorders and the World Health Organization
Quantifying Headache- Epidemiological Methods for Headache Studies
- Methodology of Headache Measurement
- The Global Burden of Headache in Published Studies
- Headache in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Studies
- Headache in the HUNT Study: Analytical Headache Epidemiology as a Source of Added Knowledge
- Impact and Environment
- The Financial Costs of Headache
Society’s Response to Headache- Barriers to Care
- Dismantling the Barriers
- The Healthcare Solution to Headache
- Evaluation: Quality in Headache Services
Conclusions
