Clinical Research Center, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
School of Political Science, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 8;16(4):e0249749. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249749. eCollection 2021.
Stress is a well-known trigger for primary headache yet its impact is difficult to demonstrate in large epidemiological studies. Israeli national TV news is often referred to as the "tribal fire", as many Israelis watch national news coverage following terror attacks or military operations. We examined the association between exposure to television news and their content with headache related Emergency Department visits. This retrospective cohort study included data on daily Emergency Department visits with a chief complaint of headache in Soroka University Medical Center, during 2002-2012. Data on daily television news viewership ratings were obtained from the Israeli Audience Research Board and its content from Channel 2 headlines, the highest rated TV news program. To estimate the short-term effects of news rating during the evening news on the number of daily headache visits, we applied generalized linear mixed models. 16,693 Emergency Department visits were included in the analysis. An increase in five units of daily rating percentages was associated with increase in Emergency Department visits the following day, relative risk (RR) = 1.032, (95% CI 1.014-1.050). This association increased with the age of the patients; RR = 1.119, (95% CI 1.075-1.65) for older than 60-year-old, RR = 1.044 (95% CI 1.010-1.078) for ages 40-60 and RR = 1.000 (95% CI 0.977-1.023) for younger than 40-year-old. We did not find a specific content associated with ED visit for headache. Higher television news ratings were associated with increased incidence of Emergency Department headache related visits. We assume that especially among older persons, news viewership ratings provide an indirect estimate of collective stress, which acts as a headache trigger for susceptible subjects.
压力是原发性头痛的已知诱因，但在大型流行病学研究中很难证明其影响。以色列国家电视台新闻通常被称为“部落之火”，因为许多以色列人在恐怖袭击或军事行动后观看国家新闻报道。我们研究了暴露于电视新闻及其内容与头痛相关的急诊科就诊之间的关联。这项回顾性队列研究包括 2002 年至 2012 年期间索罗卡大学医学中心急诊科以头痛为主诉的每日就诊数据。每日电视收视率数据来自以色列观众研究委员会，其内容来自收视率最高的电视新闻节目第 2 频道头条新闻。为了估计晚间新闻收视率对每日头痛就诊人数的短期影响，我们应用了广义线性混合模型。共纳入 16693 例急诊科就诊分析。与前一天相比，每日收视率增加 5 个单位与急诊科就诊人数增加相关，相对风险 (RR) = 1.032，(95% CI 1.014-1.050)。这种关联随着患者年龄的增加而增加；对于年龄大于 60 岁的患者，RR = 1.119，(95% CI 1.075-1.65)；对于 40-60 岁的患者，RR = 1.044，(95% CI 1.010-1.078)；对于年龄小于 40 岁的患者，RR = 1.000，(95% CI 0.977-1.023)。我们没有发现与 ED 就诊相关的特定内容。较高的电视新闻收视率与急诊科头痛相关就诊的发生率增加有关。我们假设，尤其是在老年人中，新闻收视率提供了集体压力的间接估计，这是对易感人群的头痛触发因素。
