Department of Neurology, Presbyterian Medical Center, Jeonju, South Korea.
Department of Neurology, Eulji Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.
J Headache Pain. 2018 Sep 3;19(1):78. doi: 10.1186/s10194-018-0911-x.
Cluster headaches (CH) are recurrent severe headaches, which impose a major burden on the life of patients. We investigated the impact of CH on employment status and job burden.
The study was a sub-study of the Korean Cluster Headache Registry. Patients with CH were enrolled from September 2016 to February 2018 from 15 headache clinics in Korea. We also enrolled a headache control group with age-sex matched patients with migraine or tension-type headache. Moreover, a control group including individuals without headache complaints was recruited. All participants responded to a questionnaire that included questions on employment status, type of occupation, working time, sick leave, reductions in productivity, and satisfaction with current occupation. The questionnaire was administered to participants who were currently employed or had previous occupational experience.
We recruited 143 patients with CH, 38 patients with other types of headache (migraine or tension-type headache), and 52 headache-free controls. The proportion of employees was lower in the CH group compared with the headache and headache-free control groups (CH: 67.6% vs. headache controls: 84.2% vs. headache-free controls: 96.2%; p = 0.001). The CH group more frequently experienced difficulties at work and required sick leave than the other groups (CH: 84.8% vs. headache controls: 63.9% vs. headache-free controls: 36.5%; p < 0.001; CH: 39.4% vs. headache controls: 13.9% vs. headache-free controls: 3.4%; p < 0.001). Among the patients with CH, sick leave was associated with younger age at CH onset (25.8 years vs. 30.6 years, p = 0.014), severity of pain rated on a visual analogue scale (9.3 vs. 8.8, p = 0.008), and diurnal periodicity during the daytime (p = 0.003). There were no significant differences with respect to the sick leave based on sex, age, CH subtypes, and CH recurrence.
CH might be associated with employment status. Most patients with CH experienced substantial burdens at work.
丛集性头痛（CH）是一种反复发作的严重头痛，会给患者的生活带来沉重负担。我们研究了 CH 对就业状况和工作负担的影响。
该研究是韩国丛集性头痛登记处的一项子研究。2016 年 9 月至 2018 年 2 月，我们从韩国的 15 个头痛诊所招募了 CH 患者。我们还招募了年龄和性别匹配的偏头痛或紧张型头痛患者作为头痛对照组。此外，还招募了无头痛投诉的对照组。所有参与者均回答了一份问卷，其中包括就业状况、职业类型、工作时间、病假、工作效率降低以及对当前职业的满意度等问题。问卷是针对目前在职或有过职业经历的参与者发放的。
我们共招募了 143 名 CH 患者、38 名其他类型头痛（偏头痛或紧张型头痛）患者和 52 名无头痛对照组。与头痛和无头痛对照组相比，CH 组的在职比例较低（CH 组：67.6%比头痛对照组：84.2%比无头痛对照组：96.2%；p=0.001）。与其他组相比，CH 组在工作中更频繁地遇到困难并需要病假（CH 组：84.8%比头痛对照组：63.9%比无头痛对照组：36.5%；p<0.001；CH 组：39.4%比头痛对照组：13.9%比无头痛对照组：3.4%；p<0.001）。在 CH 患者中，病假与 CH 发病年龄较小（25.8 岁比 30.6 岁，p=0.014）、视觉模拟评分（VAS）上的疼痛严重程度（9.3 分比 8.8 分，p=0.008）以及日间周期性（p=0.003）相关。病假与性别、年龄、CH 亚型和 CH 复发无关。
CH 可能与就业状况有关。大多数 CH 患者在工作中面临很大的负担。
