NIHR-Wellcome Trust King's Clinical Research Facility, King's College Hospital, London, SE5 9PJ, UK.
Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
J Headache Pain. 2021 Apr 1;22(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s10194-021-01233-7.
With headache experienced by up to 75% of adults worldwide in the last year, primary headache disorders constitute a major public health problem, yet they remain under-diagnosed and under-treated. Headache prevalence and burden is changing as society evolves, with headache now occurring earlier in life. Contributing factors, mostly associated with changing life style, such as stress, bad posture, physical inactivity, sleep disturbance, poor diet and excess use of digital technology may be associated with the phenomenon that could be labelled as '21st century headache'. This is especially notable in workplace and learning environments where headache impacts mental clarity and therefore cognitive performance. The headache-related impact on productivity and absenteeism negatively influences an individual's behaviour and quality of life, and is also associated with a high economic cost. Since the majority of sufferers opt to self-treat rather than seek medical advice, substantial knowledge on headache prevalence, causation and burden is unknown globally. Mapping the entire population of headache sufferers can close this knowledge gap, leading to better headache management. The broad use of digital technology to gather real world data on headache triggers, burden and management strategies, in self-treated population will allow these sufferers to access appropriate support and medication, and therefore improve quality of life.
These data can yield important insights into a substantial global healthcare issue and form the basis for improved patient awareness, professional education, clinical study design and drug development.
在过去一年中，全球多达 75%的成年人经历过头痛，原发性头痛障碍构成了一个主要的公共卫生问题，但这些疾病仍未得到充分诊断和治疗。随着社会的发展，头痛的患病率和负担正在发生变化，头痛现在发生得更早。大多数与生活方式改变有关的因素，如压力、不良姿势、缺乏身体活动、睡眠障碍、不良饮食和过度使用数字技术，可能与被称为“21 世纪头痛”的现象有关。这在工作场所和学习环境中尤为明显，头痛会影响思维清晰度，从而影响认知表现。头痛对生产力和旷工的影响会对个人的行为和生活质量产生负面影响，并且还与高经济成本有关。由于大多数患者选择自行治疗而不是寻求医疗建议，因此全球范围内对头痛的患病率、病因和负担的了解甚少。绘制出所有头痛患者的地图可以填补这一知识空白，从而改善头痛管理。广泛使用数字技术来收集自患者群中头痛诱因、负担和管理策略的真实世界数据，将使这些患者能够获得适当的支持和药物治疗，从而提高生活质量。
这些数据可以深入了解一个重大的全球医疗保健问题，并为提高患者意识、专业教育、临床研究设计和药物开发奠定基础。
