Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Section of Occupational Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168, Rome, Italy.
Center for Gender-Specific Medicine, Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Neurol Sci. 2022 Sep;43(9):5729-5734. doi: 10.1007/s10072-022-06178-6. Epub 2022 Jun 8.
Gender medicine is a new medical approach aimed at the study of the differences between women and men in terms of prevention, diagnosis, and the outcome of all diseases. Migraines are among these. They represent the most common neurological illness; they are most prevalent in adults between 20 and 50 years of age and are three to four times more frequent in woman than in men. Affecting people in working age, migraines are a problem that strongly impacts the psychophysical health and productivity of workers, regardless of the specific job task they have.
A narrative review was performed, searching for the most relevant articles describing gender differences in people suffering from migraines, and particularly in workers.
Migraine global prevalence is 20.7% in women and 9.7% in men whereas prevalence in Italy is 32.9% for women and only 13.0% for men. This difference is partly explained by hormonal differences, as well as by differences in brain structure, genetic polymorphisms and neuronal pathways. Sex differences may also play a role in the progression from episodic to chronic migraine. In workers, migraines are mostly associated with strenuous physical work in men, whilst migraines triggered by night shifts, lack of sleep, or irregular sleep patterns are more common in women.
To this day, the reasons of sex/gender disparity for migraine are still obscure. However, migraines, chronic migraine in particular, have a negative impact on the lives of all individuals affected by this disease, but particularly in women in which family cares and working activity are often superimposed. Migraine prevention strategies should be planned in workers through the occupational health physician.
性别医学是一种新的医学方法，旨在研究女性和男性在预防、诊断和所有疾病的结果方面的差异。偏头痛就是其中之一。它是最常见的神经疾病；它在 20 至 50 岁的成年人中最为普遍，女性比男性多三到四倍。影响处于工作年龄的人，偏头痛是一个严重影响工人身心健康和生产力的问题，无论他们从事的具体工作任务是什么。
进行了叙述性综述，搜索了描述偏头痛患者（特别是工人）中性别差异的最相关文章。
偏头痛的全球患病率女性为 20.7%，男性为 9.7%，而意大利女性为 32.9%，男性仅为 13.0%。这种差异部分归因于激素差异，以及大脑结构、遗传多态性和神经元通路的差异。性别差异也可能在从偶发性偏头痛到慢性偏头痛的进展中起作用。在工人中，偏头痛主要与男性的剧烈体力劳动有关，而女性偏头痛则更多地由夜班、睡眠不足或睡眠不规律引起。
时至今日，偏头痛的性别差异的原因仍不清楚。然而，偏头痛，尤其是慢性偏头痛，对所有受这种疾病影响的人的生活都有负面影响，但对女性的影响尤其大，因为女性往往同时承担家庭护理和工作活动。应通过职业健康医生为工人制定偏头痛预防策略。
