Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2009
Introduction
Migraine is a chronic neurovascular disorder that afflicts 8–15 per cent of the world's population and is the most common primary headache disorder in clinical practice. In the United States there are an estimated 28 million migraine sufferers, with women being affected three times as often as men. It is characterized by severe headaches and is often associated with nausea, vomiting, heightened sensitivity to sound and light, and focal (paresthesias, visual scintillations) and global (impaired concentration) neurological dysfunction. Migraine is considered to be one of the top 20 causes of disability due to chronic diseases, and severe migraine has been judged by the World Health Organization to be as disabling as quadriplegia, psychosis, and dementia.
Most sufferers are in their most socially active and productive years (25–55). Not only is migraine painful and disabling for the sufferer, but it exerts a significant economic burden on society. It causes 112 million bedridden days each year and costs $14 billion in reduced productivity and missed workdays. The economic burden of migraine is comparable with that of diabetes and higher than that of asthma.
Even among migraineurs who consult a physician, many are not satisfied with their therapy and report that prescribed medications are not always optimal. Triptan medications, the most effective acute therapy for migraine attacks, are only effective in improving the pain and associated migraine symptoms, such as photophobia and nausea, in up to two thirds of patients.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.