Survey of headache among hospital workers at a regional core hospital

Abstract

   Chronic headache is common among health care workers; however, few of them visit a headache clinic. We conducted a questionnaire survey that was administered to all health care workers at a regional core hospital to determine how many have chronic headache and how many of them are treated for headache. The questionnaire was distributed to 612 staff members at the hospital, and 609 (99.5%) completed the survey. 464 (76.3%) responded that they sometimes had headache, and 127 (20.9%) had severe headache with a Headache Impact Test-6 score of 60 or higher. Approximately 90% of the severe cases did not visit a medical institution for treatment. These findings show that many healthcare professionals suffer from severe headache, and indicate that further education is needed to encourage them to seek medical attention．