Epidemiology of Headache in Elderly Correlations With Life Conditions and Socio-professional Environment

SYNOPSIS
The decreased frequency of headache in the aged is generally acknowledged. Thus in a general population, Waters (1975) reported 74% men and 92% women suffering from headaches and ranging between 21 and 34 years, while in a group aged 75 years or more, he reported only 21% men and 55% women. Likewise Newland et al (1978) mentioned 88% men and 96.7% women ranging between 21 and 34 years suffering from headaches and only 45.5% men and 52.7% women aged 75 years or more. Our previous study¹⁸ dealed with a group of 1990 headache sufferers (H.S.), who consulted for isolated headache among whom we noticed a low percentage (about 5%) of individuals over 65.This decrease of headaches in aged people is difficult to explain and there are few studies concerning headaches in the elderly. Prospective studies were carried out in poorly homogeneous groups examined by written questionnaires,^3,4,5,6. less accurate than a direct examination. Conversely, this present study deals with a group of hospitalized patients, more homogeneous as regards the age, examined and followed up very closely. There are still no studies tending to compare H.S. and non-headache sufferers (N.H.) and dealing with the difference or relationship between them. The aim of this work is an epidemiological and clinical analysis within a group of old people and then a comparison between this group and another of N.S. to determine if the life conditions and the socio-professional environment have any influence on the occurrence of headaches.